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AUGUSTANA   BULLETIN 

Issued  Quarterly  by  Augustana  College  and  Theological  Seminary,  Rock  Island,   Illinois 
SERIES  VIII.  MARCH  J,  J9J2.  No.  I 


Augustana  Olulkg^ 
anb  ulli^olngtral  ^^mtuarg 


Entered  April  18,  1905,  at  Rock  Island,  Illinois,  as  second  class  matter  under 
act  of  Congress  of  July  16,  1894 


Corner  Stone  Lairing  and 
Dedication 


of  the 


Denkmann  Memorial  Librarp 

Augustana  College  and  Theological  Seminarg 
Rock  Island,  III,  1911 


ROCK  ISLAND,  ILL. 

AUGUSTANA   BOOK   CONCERN,    PRINTERS   AND  BINDERS 

1912 


^-^-\-^'^ 

/^1^>^ 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH 

By  PitEsiDiiNT  GusTAV  Anduken. 


The  Dciikinnnn  Memorial  Lil)rary  stands  as  a  noble  monnmcnt 
to  the  public  spirit  and  generosity  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  C.  A. 
Denkniann  and  their  children,  whose  memory  will  ever  be  cher- 
ished as  trne  friends  and  n}>l)uilders  of  our  community.  In  1860, 
the  same  year  that  saw  the  beginning  of  Augustana  College,  Mr. 
Denkniann  laid  the  foundations  of  the  great  business  enterprise 
in  Kock  Island,  with  whicli  his  name  is  associated.  With  great 
interest  did  these  neighbors  of  Augustana  follow  the  struggle 
and  the  advance  of  our  educational  work.  The  energy  and  far- 
sightedness whicli  lirought  Mr.  Denkniann  success  was  ever  coupled 
with  a  keen  interest  in  the  public  weal.  How  to  do  something  for 
the  general  good  of  the  community  was  an  oft-recurring  subject 
of  discussion  in  the  Denkinann  home,  a  tiait  of  character  which 
the  parents  have  left  as  tlie  best  heritage  to  their  children  and 
to  their  posterity.  After  the  death  of  IMr.  Denkniann  in  1905, 
the  mother  frequently  discussed  witli  lu'r  cliildien  Itotli  tlie  best 
way  of  doing  something  substantial  Jnr  a  -ciicral  cause  worthy 
of  suppoit,  and  also  what  institution  s^hoiild  he  .made  the  bene- 
ficiary of  such  assistance.  Her  eyes  turned  kijidiy  toward  Augus- 
tana College  and  Theological  Seminary,  in  whose  struggles  and 
successes  even  then  she  was  more  deeply  interested  than  the  author- 
ities of  the  institution  were  aware  of.  In  the  expressed  wishes  and 
hopes  of  the  mother — all  honor  to  lier  memory  I — the  home  insti- 
tution won  the  day.  Persistent  and  devoted  effort  in  the  upbuild- 
ing of  God's  kingdom  on  earth  to  the  benefit  of  one's  fellow-men 


1)i:m<m.\nx  :\rKM()i;iAT.  i.ii!i:ai;y 


will  ever  attract  the  attention  and  the  intei'est  of  nol)]c  hearts,  and 
liiiiii;-  results  beyond  tlie  fondest  hopes  of  the  laborers. 

W  bell,  therefore,  the  representatives  of  Angnstana,  ^Er.  A.  T. 
Eklibid  and  the  ])resident  of  the  institution,  approac-licd  the  sons 
and  (laiii:btiM-s  of  ^Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  C.  A.  Denkmann  in  order  to 
lay  tbc  wDik  of  Angnstana  before  them,  the  hearts  of  these  were, 
—  as  the  writer  desires  to  put  it,  by  the  guidance  of  God  —  ah'eady 
prepared  for  our  request,  as  they  were  already  deeply  interested 
in  the  advancement  of  our  institution.  In  an  interview  with  us 
]\[r.  Fred.  C.  Denkmann  as  the  representative  of  the  family  ex- 
pressed their  intentioir  of  giving  Angnstana  something  which  it 
Avas  exceedingly  in  need  of,  namely  a  lilirar}-  building,  where  tlie 
educational  work  of  our  institution  would  find  both  a  liome  and 
a  center.  But  these  friends,  as  was  their  right  and  their  duty, 
asked  to  be  assured  that  the  interest  of  the  supporters  of  Angnstana 
throughout  our  country  was  general  and  strong,  that  the  roots  of 
our  institution  were  deep  and  widespread  in  a  soil  that  would 
support  and  insure  future  growth  and  sturdy  development.  They 
were  Mdlling  to  base  their  judgment  in  this  respect  both  on  present 
achievements  and  on  the  promise  of  success  in  the  movement  for 
strengthening  the  hands  of  the  central  institution  of  our  Synod 
at  its  approaching  fiftieth  anniversary.  And  it  filled  the  hearts 
of  the  Denkmann  family  with  joy  and  with  confidence,  as  they 
saw  how  the  fi lends  of  Angnstana,  east  and  west,  north  and  south, 
rallied  to  its  sup})oit  in  the  successful  gathering  of  the  jubilee  fund 
as  a  pieparation  for  the  semi-centennial  celebration. 

On  January  28,  1909,  the  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  C.  A. 
Denkmann  were  gathered  at  a  family  reunion  in  "the  old  home- 
stead," built  Ijy  the  parents  at  the  foot  of  Fourth  avenue  in  Bock 
Island.  At  this  gathering  the  final  plans  were  laid  for  a  donation 
to  Angnstana  College  in  the  form  of  a  memorial  liln'ary  building 
to  be  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  the  parents.  A  representative  of 
Angnstana  was  called  in  to  receive  the  formal  announcement,  and 
as  the  happy  news  was  communicated  to  him  his  own  emotion 
made  it  impossible  for  him  to  give  expression  to  the  gratitude 
which  welled  forth  from  his  heart.  The  announcement  also  stated 
that  the  proposed  building  Avould  be  erected  at  a  cost  of  not  less 


|)KNk:\[ax.\  :mi:.moi!IAL  liijuaRy 


tlian  ono  ]i  inn  I  red  thousand  dollars.  In  tlio  evening  of  the  day 
when  this  aniioiuuement  was  made  public  the  student  body,  "deliri- 
ous witb  joy,"'  as  the  jiress  stated  it,  with  an  ardor  wliicli  the  heavy 
downpour  of  rain  eould  not  quench,  formed  a  torchlight  procession 
and  visited  the  homes  of  the  donors  to  express  their  overflowing 
gratitude. 

The  donors  selected  Messrs.  Patton  &  Miller  of  Chicago  as  the 
architects  of  this  building,  and  the  preliminary  work  was  soon 
under  way.  At  the  request  of  Mr.  F.  C.  Denkmann  a  committee 
was  also  appointed  by  the  institution  to  make  a  study  of  the  inner 
arrangement  of  the  library  and  to  co-operate  with  the  architects 
in  the  effort  to  secure  the  best  possible  results.  Numerous  libraries 
were  visited,  the  advice  of  librarians  and  others  was  received,  who 
pointed  out  the  excellences  and  the  shortcomings  of  existing  library 
buildings,  plans  were  discussed  and  suggestions  made.  The  manner 
in  which  the  architects  solved  the  problem  of  erecting  a  perfect 
library  building,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  builders,  Messrs. 
Jobst  &  Son  of  Peoria,  111.,  accomplislied  the  work,  will  redound 
to  their  lasting  honor. 

The  location  selected  for  the  new  library  was  on  the  College 
grounds  at  the  corner  of  35th  street  and  Seventh  avenue,  now  made 
into  a  beautiful  boulevard  connecting  the  cities  of  Eock  Island  and 
Moline.  From  this  point  the  spectator  has  a  splendid  view  of  the 
Mississippi  valley  and  the  Eock  Island  Arsenal  directly  in  front 
of  him,  and  he  looks  down  upon  a  scene  of  rare  beauty  and  one 
instinct  with  the  life  of  industry. 

On  September  16,  1909,  ground  was  broken  and  the  work  of 
clearing  away  the  soil  for  the  foundation  of  the  new  library  was 
begun.  No  small  difficulty  was  experienced,  as  the  earth  at  this 
spot  had  been  filled  in  of  late  years,  and  one  had  to  go  deep  to 
find  a  basis  for  the  solid  concrete  foundation ;  in  one  place  more 
tlian  thi]ty  feet  of  earth  had  to  be  removed  liefore  "old  Illinois 
soil'"  was  reached.  But  the  problem  was  speedily  solved,  cave-ins 
were  successfully  avoided,  and  soon  the  massive  concrete  founda- 
tion was  ready  to  support  the  base  of  granite  rock.  Above  this 
the  successive  tiers  of  grey  stone  from  Cartilage,  Missouri,  began 
to  rise.     The  cornerstone  was  laid  on  January  21,  1910.     At  the 


HISTORICAL    SKETCH  9 

•liihilcG  celebration  in  Juno,  1910,  the  thousands  of  visitors  who 
had  come  here  from  tlie  ends  of  onr  country,  looked  wiih  the 
keenest  interest  and  joy  upon  the  outlines  of  the  spleiuhd  l)uihhng 
with  its  still  greater  promise. 

The  dedication  of  the  monumental  Iniilding,  the  program  of 
which  dedication  is  detailed  in  this  volume,  took  place  on  May  31,    > 
1911. 

Immediately  upon  the  completion  of  the  building,  the  librarian, 
the  president  and  the  treasurer  of  the  institution  took  up  their 
permanent  quarters  in  the  commodious  office-rooms  provided  for 
their  use,  and  when  the  students  returned  in  the  following  Sep- 
tember they  joyfully  took  possession  of  the  reading-room,  the  most 
beautiful  home  for  study  at  any  college  in  America. 

It  has  been  a  rare  privilege  for  the  authorities  at  Augustana 
to  have  a  hand  in  the  planning  of  a  building,  when  they  did.  not 
need  to  worry  about  the  cost  or  the  bills.  It  is  the  first  experience 
of  its  kind  in  our  history.  \\'hen  there  was  some  hesitancy  about 
suggesting  the  grand  and  decorative  pillars  for  the  reading-room, 
Mr.  Denkmann  on  behalf  of  the  family  said,  "Put  them  in !" 
When  he  heard  that  the  stack-room  space  possil)ly  should  be  in- 
creased, he  ordered  the  rear  of  the  building  to  be  made  larger. 
And  when  the  building  was  formally  turned  over  to  the  College, 
the  donors  had  had  the  grounds  graded  and  sodded,  had  built  the 
stone-wall  around  the  grounds  and  even  laid  the  sidewalks  on  the 
adjoining  streets.     The  final  cost  of  the  noble  edifice,  as  reported  ^ 

to  the  Board  of  Directors,  is  over  two  hundred  and  seven  thousand  k     2.  0  / 
dollars.    Who  can  hear  of  this  generosity  without  a  quickening  of 
the  heart-beats,  and  a  strengthening  of  deep  and  lasting  gratitude ! 

The  building  gives  an  impression  of  symmetry  and  beauty  as 
well  as  of  dignity  and  strength.  The  memorial  elements  appear 
in  its  massiveness  of  construction ;  the  solid  masonry  of  the  corners 
of  the  building,  the  large  arched  windows  of  the  library  floor,  in 
front  bordered  by  the  four  solid  pillars  of  the  same  material  as  the 
building,  the  decorative  projecting  entablature  with  the  tile  roof 
above,  combine  to  produce  a  monumental  effect  of  rare  attractive- 
ness. The  main  part,  or  front,  is  120  feet  in  length  with  a  depth  ' 
of  96  feet.     As  one  views  it  from  a  side  angle,  where  comparison 


10  DKNK.MAW     MKMOIUAL    LIIiKAliY 

willi  the  (itluT  iniiic  oidiitarv  dimonsions  of  tlie  way  ])art  can  he 
made,  lilt'  i'loiil  especially  appears  in  its  full  ami  uiaiid  ])roporti()iis. 
At  the  main  eiiliance  witli  its  frame  of  delic-atelv  carved  ornamoii- 
tation.  vo\i  pass  tliiouii'li  the  larii'e  Inonze  doors  into  the  spacions 
memorial  hall  lint'd  with  marhle  imported  from  quarries,  famous 
even  in  ancient  times,  of  ("arrara,  Ital_y.  On  this  floor  are  the 
administration  olhces  of  the  institution,  also  a  leeture-hall,  com- 
mittee rooms  and  cloak-rooms.  The  doors  and  window-frames  are 
all  of  the  best  oak  and  the  donors  have  also  put  into  the  offices  and 
the  reading  room  the  very  best  furniture  of  quarter  sawed  oak.  The 
floors  in  the  memorial  hall  and  all  the  office  rooms  have  borders 
of  inlaid  mosaic,  the  other  parts  of  the  floor  being  made  of  chipped 
marble  of  different  colors  which  has  been  worked  into  the  concrete 
mass  and  polished  with  emory.  In  the  office  is  placed  a  large 
master  clock  which  regulates  the  clocks  in  the  library  building  and 
the  main  building  and  also  the  ringing  of  the  bells  in  all  the  build- 
ings. At  the  end  of  the  hall  oi^posite  the  entrance,  the  bronze 
memorial  tablet,  erected  by  the  Board  of  Directors,  stands  out 
against  the  marble  background.  Two  highly  artistic  marble  stair- 
cases lead  to  the  reading  room  on  the  floor  above.  The  reading 
room  having  a  dimension  of  116x48  feet,  with  its  pillars  and  panels, 
its  grand  aiched  windows,  its  oaken  furniture  and  ample  book 
space,  its  electric  lights,  and  withal  its  perfect  proportions,  is  one 
of  the  most  impressive  and  inspiring  features  of  the  whole  edifice. 
At  one  end  of  the  room  is  ample  space  for  reference  books,  at  the 
other  cases  are  placed  for  periodicals  and  magazines.  At  the 
eighteen  tables  ample  opportunity  is  given  for  the  students  to  study. 
The  whole  floor  of  the  reading  room  is  covered  Avith  battleship 
linoleum,  so  that  perfect  quiet  is  assured.  Al)Ove  the  h^an  desk  at 
the  middle  of  the  south  wall  is  one  of  the  large  clocks  set  in  the 
midst  of  attractive  architectural  design,  with  inscriptions  on  the 
panels.  Back  of  this  is  the  light-well  with  the  dome  which  con- 
stitutes one  of  the  most  beautiful  architectural  features  of  the 
building.  This  entrance  leads  to  the  various  offices  connected  with 
the  library,  the  catalogue  room,  the  four  stories  of  stacks  for  books. 
The  shelves  here  are  all  of  metal  and  the  floors  of  glass,  with  an 
electric  elevator  connectinff  all  the  floors.     Below  the  stacks  are 


HISTORICAL    SKETCH  11 

ciglit  soiiiinar  rooms;  on  this  iloor  ni(>  also  Idilct  rooms  with  a  lai'^'o 
lost  room  foi"  tlie  lad}'  students,  janitoi's  rixnii  and  store  i-dom 
space.  In  the  store  room  is  placed  the  engine  of  the  vaciuiin  ilcaner 
which  is  connected  with  every  part  of  the  huilding.  Ahove  the 
stacks  is  room  with  good  space  for  storing  the  arehives  and  the 
newspaper  collections  of  the  library.  Aljove  the  reading  room  on 
the  fonrth  floor  is  the  musenm,  the  size  of  which  (llGx48)  always 
suiprises  the  visitors,  as  the  outside  view  of  the  lihrary  does  not 
suggest  the  existence  of  this  room.  Tliis  museum  receives  ample 
light  from  a  sky-light  extending  the  whole  length  of  the  room.  The 
floors  are  all  of  concrete  construction  so  that  the  l)uilding  is  ahso- 
lutely  fireproof.  The  fixtures  of  the  building  including  the  electric 
lights  and  the  hardware  of  the  doors  are  all  of  special  design. 

The  new  libraiy  ])uilding  now  stands  complete,  a  triumph  of 
architectural  ait.  Its  beautiful  outlines  and  artistic  details  will  be 
a  potent  factor  in  the  education  of  the  esthetic  sense  of  uncounted 
student  generations,  who  are  to  study  within  its  walls,  as  well  as 
of  each  one  who  beholds  its  noble  features.  Above  all,  it  will 
develop  and  strengthen  our  appreciation  of  moral  beauty,  as  we 
contemplate  the  motives  back  of  this  great  gift  in  the  noble  lives 
and  impulses  of  sturdy  pioneers,  and  of  the  gi'ateful  aiTectiDU  of 
their  children. 


S^^  Pi^S  S^^  P)^S  S^S  0}^S  0]^S  Pi^S 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH 


Bv  ]>i;.  K.  F.  Baktiiolomkw 


When  on  the  second  day  of  March,  1905,  the  spirit  of  Frederick 
C.  A.  Denkmann  passed  from  earth  to  its  eternal  rest  there  was 
completed  a  life  singularly  rich  in  experience,  symmetrical  in 
manly  qualities,  and  beautiful  in  its  simplicity  —  a  life  nurtiired 
in  difficulties  and  noteworthy  for  its  steadfastness  of  purpose,  its 
energy  of  execution,  its  sterling  worth,  its  heroic  devotion  to  duty, 
-^nd  its  quiet,  modest  self-respect  —  a  life  that  may  well  serve  as 
an  inspiration  to  every  American  youth  Iiotli  of  this  and  of  succeed- 
ing generations.  Of  such  a  one  it  may  be  said  as  of  one  of  old, 
"He  being  dead,  yet  speaketh."  Such  a  life  is  a  legacy  of  in- 
estimable value  to  the  Avorld  on  account  of  its  lessons  of  wisdom 
and  encouragement  to  those  who  are  in  the  midst  of  the  struggle. 

Frederick  C.  A.  Denkmann  sprang  from  stiirdy  German  stock. 
The  sole  inheritance  from  his  ancestors  was  a  clear  head  reinforced 
by  rugged  strength  and  a  more  than  ordinary  endowment  of  com- 
mon sense.  Frederick,  commonly  called  (*arl.  was  born  April  8, 
1822,  at  Salzwedel,  the  ancient  capital  of  Prussia,  being  the 
youngest  son  of  his  father  Diedrich  Denkmann.  His  father  was  a 
successful  nmnufacturer,  a  man  of  propeity  and  of  standing  in  his 
native  German  city.  But  the  Napoleonic  wars,  then  devastating  the 
blooming  fields  of  Germany,  destroyed  his  business  and  swept  away 
all  his  accumulated  wealth.  The  shock  was  too  great  for  his 
strength.  Disheartened  and  feeling  tliat  the  loss  which  he  had 
suffered  could  not  be  restored,  Diedrich  Denkmann  died,  and  his 
little  Carl  was  left  to  the  care  of  his  mother. 


lUoCltArillCAL    SKETCH  13 

Ciiounistances  prevented  young  Carl  from  enjoyino-  pucli  ad- 
vantages of  training  as  his  widowed  motlier  would  gladly  have 
given  him.  She  could  do  no  more  than  provide  liim  with  the  mere 
rudiments  of  an  cthication,  hoping  that  his  iiati\c  strength  of 
character  and  his  fund  of  good  sense  woidd.  in  the  school  of  experi- 
ence, convert  his  very  limitations  into  advantages,  as  also  the  case 
proved  to  be.  His  school  days  ended  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  when 
he  was  placed  as  an  apprentice  in  a  machine  shoj),  theiehy  preparing 
himself  for  the  task  of  bread  winning  in  the  ycais  io  come.  With 
characteristic  German  thoroughness  and  with  an  undaunted  am- 
bition to  succeed,  Carl  soon  mastered  the  details  of  his  trade. 
Thus  in  the  years  of  his  youth  and  early  manhood  this  strong  and 
thorough-going  young  artisan  was  unconsciously  laying  the  founda- 
tion of  the  great  foituiu'  which  was  awaiting  him  across  the  waters. 

In  the  troublous  days  of  1S48  the  thoughts  of  many  in  Mr. 
Denkmann's  home  city  Avere  turned  to  America.  Jn  their  view  this 
was  the  land  of  (i|i|mii  iunil\-  and  of  ricli  n-ward  for  efforts  spent, 
the  land  of  promise  and  of  freedom.  Their  friends  and  neighbors 
who  had  previously  journeyed  to  this  hind  of  inspiring  prospects 
wrote  back  of  the  advantages  Avliich  this  new  counti-v  held  out  for 
those  who  had  been  trained  in  thiifty  (ierman  homes.  And  so 
with  his  small  savings  and  witli  something  far  more  valualjle, 
namely,  a  ihoiough  knowledge  of  his  craft  and  a  determination  to 
succeed,  Mr.  Denkmann  in  the  year  184!)  joined  the  throng  of 
emigrants  seeking  homes  in  the  new  world.  He  had  Init  little 
capital  to  bring  with  him  save  a  strong  and  vigorous  body,  a  dis- 
cerning mind,  an  indomitable  will,  and  aii  aident  desire  for  civil 
liberty  and  for  better  industrial  conditions. 

]\rr.  Denkmann's  iiist  abiding  place  in  .\merica  was  Ei'ic, 
Pennsylvania,  where  he  soon  found  employment,  and  adapting 
himself  to  the  conditions  of  Amci'ican  life  and  citizenship  he  en- 
joyed a  reasonable  degree  of  i)i'ospcrity.  it  is  related  of  Mi-.  l)eid<- 
mann  that  when  he  first  applied  for  work  in  Erie,  the  foreman  nf 
the  shop  asked  him  what  he  could  do,  and  with  characteristic  fi'aid\- 
ness  he  replied,  "What  those  three  men  over  there  are  doing." 
On  the  ninth  day  of  December,  1841),  he  established  his  own  fireside 
by  his  marriage  to  j\Iiss  Cathei'iiie  Bloedel  who  had  also  coni(>  fi-oni 


F  REDE  RICK   C.    A.   DEXKMAXN' 


moGUAPIilCAL    SKETCH 


(Jcriiiany,  liciiii;-  a  iiafi\e  of  Niedersaulht'ini.  a  \illa,i;v  in  Uw  valU'V 
of  tlie  liliiiic  'i'liis  was  an  important  step,  for  the  eomj^aiiioii  of 
his  ehoico  prowd  a  tiiie  liel])niato  throughout  his  long  and  pros- 
[)ei()us  career  witliout  whose  aid  lie  p)ol)al)ly  never  could  have 
achieved  A\hat  lie  diiL  ll  marked  ihe  heginning  of  a  new  period 
in  his  life  when  fon-cs  which  had  })ieviously  lain  dormant  in  his 
nature  were  quickened  into  vigorous  activity  by  his  companionship 
with  a  congenial  s|)irit.  Through  her  stimulating  influence  he 
quickly  came  to  a  realization  of  himself,  she  supplying  those  quali- 
ties which  he  lacked.  Slie  completely  identified  herself  with  his 
interest-!  and  smight  to  promote  his  welfare.  Tie  had  a  keen  appre- 
ciation of  her  woitli  and  esteemed  her  very  highly.  In  matters  of 
business  as  well  as  in  all  otlier  things  he  leaned  upon  her  judgment 
and  tlirougliout  his  life  was  deeply  influenced  by  her  counsel  and 
examjjle.  She  was  a  haul  worker  and  a  wise  and  economical  house- 
wife as  well  as  a  congenial,  sympathetic  companion.  In  harmony 
of  mind  and  heait  t!iey  walked  together  and  matured  those  plans 
which  in  due  time  hi  ought  tlieui  success,  wealth,  and  fame. 

For  two  years  after  their  maniage  the  young  couple  were  con- 
tent in  their  new  home,  and  then  the  flattering  advantages  of  the 
West  lined  them  to  the  banks  of  the  ^lississippi,  whither,  as  by 
the  hand  of  de>tiny,  they  were  directed  to  find  their  fortune  and 
to  enter  into  the  fame  that  awaited  them. 

We  first  find  them  ;'t  Aloline,  Ilk,  where  they  leinained  oiilv 
a  short  while.  Mere  the  tii^t  great  sorrow  came  into  their  young 
lives  by  the  death  of  their  infant  (iist-horn.  \n  the  midst  of 
stiangers,  with  no  lixed  place  of  abode,  and  with  none  of  their  own 
people  to  sym])athize  with  them,  this  al'lliction  -was  a  aciv  great 
trial  to  tbeni,  but  with  iciiewed  courage  and  with  unfaltering  trust 
in  the  goodness  of  an  all-wise  I'ldxideiice  they  continued  on  the 
journey  of  life.  After  a  hiicf  lesidence  in  Aloline  they  iiio\c'(|  to 
lioc-k  Island  which  liecame  their  Ikuiic  for  more  than  (iftv  yeai's 
until  the  time  of  Mv.  Deiikmaiiirs  death  in  I'.Kl.l.  In  the  familv 
residence  ]\Irs.  Denkmann.  (he  widow  and  life-long  companion, 
continued  t(»  li\c  until  daiuiary  (ifteeiith.  llMi;.  when  she  j'oIiumI 
her  hushand  in  i  he  home  beyond. 

During    the    tiist    \eais    cd'   his    lesidei'je    in    IJock    Island    .Mr. 


16  DEXKMAX.N     -M  KMOUIA  I,    MIUiAItY 

J)c'iikni;iiiii  woikcil  ,•;!  his  ti'ade  and  all()\vc(l  his  savings  to  accumu- 
late after  the  thrifty  German  numner.  Then  he  established  him- 
self in  a  modest  grocery  business  which  bore  an  important  relation 
to  his  subsequent  career  of  distinguished  success  and  of  fame. 
A  small  capital  was  gradually  accumulated  which  made  subsequent 
sawmill  ownership  a  possibility.  When  he  placed  his  name  above 
liis  modest  grocery  store  the  same  careful  attention  to  details  and 
the  same  unceasing  energy  that  had  made  him  superior  in  his 
earlier  calling  now  showed  themselves  in  the  new  business  enter- 
prise and  became  the  talisman  of  his  success.  It  is  always  so  that 
wise  and  energetic  management  of  a  modest  business  leads  to 
something  greater.  In  lesser  things  men  receive  their  training  for 
greater  things.  He  that  is  faithful  in  little  things  makes  himself 
master  of  great  enterprises.  And  so  it  came  about  that  in  1860 
Mr.  Denkmann  formed  with  his  brother-in-law.  ]\Ir.  Frederick 
Weyerhaeuser,  that  partnership  in  the  lumljcr  business  which 
achieved  such  monumental  success  that  their  names  became  known 
all  over  the  country  Avherever  logs  and  lumber  were  bought  and  sold. 
Up  to  the  time  when  the  firm  of  Weyerhaeuser  and  Denkmann 
began  operations  on  a  scale  that  made  them  famous  in  the  lumber 
world,  Mr.  Denkmann's  life  had  been  a  quiet  one,  unmarked  by 
incidents  that  would  attract  attention.  He  had  lived  a  peaceful 
home  life,  working  with  energy  and  intelligence,  but  in  lines  which 
do  not  ordinarily  lead  to  wealth  and  renown.  Hitherto  his  sphere 
of  activity  had  been  circumscribed.  He  was  scarcely  known  beyond 
the  limits  of  his  home  town  where  he  lived  for  his  family  and 
enjoyed  the  respect  of  his  circle  of  friends.  With  the  founding 
of  the  great  lumber  firm  his  manner  of  life  was  changed  as  his 
opportunities  and  responsibilities  were  broadened.  He  seemed  to 
have  become  a  favorite  of  Fortune  upon  whom  she  showered  her 
blessings  in  rich  profusion.  When  the  tide  of  prosperity  set  in, 
it  found  him  no  novice,  but  by  previous  training  he  had  prepared 
himself  for  the  new  conditions  of  his  life.  Schooled  in  poverty 
during  his  boyhood  and  by  strict  discipline,  he  was  now  prepared 
to  enter  into  the  fulfilment  of  his  dreams  of  success  in  his  mature 
manhood.  He  was  almost  forty  years  old  when  he  began  his  career 
of  lumber  making,  and  when  the  path  to  greater  achievements, 


BIOGRAPHICAL    SKETCH  17 

wider  influence,  and  iiiglier  iif^efiiliiess  to  the  eoniniiiniiy  opened 
before  him. 

Frederick  Weyerliaeuser,  his  partner,  had  l)een  in  the  employ 
of  Mead,  S'nith  and  Marsh  conducting  a  retail  lumber  j^ard  in 
Coal  Yalley,  111.  This  luml)er  firm  had  been  compelled  to  go  out 
of  business.  There  Avas  an  opportunity  to  purchase  their  sawmill 
and  business  in  Rock  Island  at  small  cost  and  on  easy  terms. 
Having  carefully  looked  over  this  property  and  having  considered 
their  chances  for  the  future,  the  members  of  the  AA'eyerhaouser  and 
Denkmann  firm  entered  into  partnership  and  took  over  the  prop- 
erty offered  for  sale.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  was  never  any 
chance  of  failure  in  such  a  combination.  They  were  both  remark- 
able men  —  men  of  rugged  strength,  ceaseless  energy,  and  heroic 
courage.  Mr.  Denkmann's  peculiar  abilities  were  supplemented 
by  those  of  ]\Ir.  Weyerhaeuser.  The  latter,  trained  in  the  handling 
of  lumber,  looked  after  the  sales  and  the  log  supply.  j\Ir.  Denk- 
mann, skilled  as  a  machinist  and  established  in  habits  of  old  woi'ld 
thoroughness,  took  charge  of  the  manufacturing  processes.  I^udei' 
his  skilful  management  the  saws  began  to  hum  a  new  tune.  As 
might  be  expected,  the  new  superintendent  was  fertile  in  devices 
for  improving  the  mechanical  side  of  the  business.  He  worked 
longer  hours  than  any  other  man  on  the  payroll.  At  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  Weyerhaeuser  and  Denkmann  company  ]\Ir.  Denkmann 
was  elected  president,  and  this  position  of  honor  and  responsibility 
he  held  till  the  day  of  his  deatli.  One  of  the  later  projects  of  ]\[r. 
Denkmann  was  the  purchase  and  improvement  of  a  mill  in  Daven- 
port, Iowa,  just  across  the  river  fi'om  the  other  mills  operated  by  Hie 
firm.  This  mill  was  fitted  up  in  the  most  approved  manner  of  llu' 
iiiodci'u  u])-to-date  mill.  ''I'he  business  was  prospering,  when  on 
July  25,  1901,  the  plant  was  completely  destroyed  by  a  great  lire. 
This  was  the  first  serious  loss  the  firm  had  been  called  upon  to  bear 
during  its  more  than  forty  years  of  prosperous  business. 

Weyerhaeuser  and  Denkmann  were  great  lundoer  manufac- 
turers. The  manner  in  which  tlicy  conducted  tlieir  affairs  gave 
them  the  rank  of  masters  among  llic  captains  of  industry,  whose 
fame  and  infiuence  i'xti'iidcd  (lii-oiiglioiit  the  length  and  breadth 
of  the  country.     To  plan  and  successfully  carry  out  such  gigantic- 

Augustana  Bulletin.  2. 


18  l)K.\K.\I.\.\.\     Mi:.\H)l!I.\L    Ml!i:.\l!Y 

enterprises  as  those  in  uliicli  llie}'  \\eie  eiiiiagcd,  rc(juire(I  a  more 
tliaii  ordiiiai'v  endowment  of  talent  and  genius.  They  seem  never 
to  have  made  any  serious  mistakes,  and  if  a  mistake  was  made 
they  had  the  rare  power  of  organizing  mistakes  of  jiT-Vment  into 
elements  of  strength  and  success.  In  writing  of  Mr.  Denkmann 
it  is  natural  to  think  of  him  as  the  moving  spirit  that  directed 
the  vast  and  varied  manufacturing  processes  of  his  firm.  It  was 
no  accident  that  he  was  put  at  the  head  of  these  different  industries ; 
it  was  according  to  the  fitness  of  things;  .for  this  office  of  oversight 
which  he  maintained  as  long  as  he  lived  he  was  prepared  in  his 
early  life.  In  that  line  he  excelled  others,  and  his  superiority  was 
due  to  his  remarkal)le  insight  into  everything  where  machinery 
was  concerned. 

No  less  remarkable  was  his  executive  ability  —  he  knew  not 
only  how  to  manage  machines,  he  knew  also  how  to  manage  men 
and  affairs.  For  this  also  he  had  received  his  training  in  early 
life  by  his  close  attention  to  details.  While  he  was  serving  his 
apprenticeship  in  the  German  machine  shop  the  discipline  was 
perhaps  at  times  painfully  exacting,  Init  it  was  the  making  of  the 
man.  The  lial)its  wliich  lie  there  formed  gained  for  him  the  con- 
trol of  his  resources  which  made  him  afterwards  a  great  captain 
of  industry.  As  the  business  grew  and  the  mills  multiplied  arid 
operations  became  more  diversified  there  was  developed  a  kind  and 
a  degree  of  executive  power  which  was  no  less  a  manifestation  of 
genius  than  his  machanical  skill  and  his  insight  into  things.  He 
knew  what  a  day's  work  for  a  man  or  a  team  or  a  steamboat  or  a 
sawmill  ought  to  be.  When  an  honist  day's  work  was  done  he  was 
satislied,  and  the  confidence  and  liigli  respect  on  the  part  of  his 
army  of  employees  was  won  by  his  fairness  and  his  appreciation 
of  their  co-operation  in  furthering  the  interests  of  the  business. 
His  expectations  of  his  employees  were  high,  but  not  l^eyond  reason. 
He  never  ]e(|uiri_'d  of  thcni  the  hours  and  efforts  which  he  himself 
put  into  his  business,  and  when  any  of  his  men  showed  a  disposition 
to  make  some  sacrifice  for  their  common  interests  he  knew  how  to 
reward  their  efforts.  He  was  a  leader  and  not  a  driver  of  men. 
l)y  his  hdncst  and  plain  ()])('ii  dealing,  l)y  his  a])ility  to  do  things, 
l>y  his  foresight  iind  excellent  judgment,  by  his  promptness  in  the 


niOC.RAl'HlCAL    SKETCH  19 

porforinance  of  every  duly  lie  won  the  confidence  of  all  with  whom 
he  had  any  business  relations.  It  is  therefore  not  remarkahlo  lliat 
he  was  an  efficient  executive  oliicer  and  manager.  Such  men  always 
come  into  positions  of  leadership.  The  office  seeks  the  men,  and 
by  natural  affinity  they  drift  into  the  places  for  which  they  aj'e 
fitted.  Mr.  Denkmann  never  sought  promotion  and  never  schemed 
to  further  his  own  interests,  Init  promotion  came  to  him  by  neces- 
sity and  as  a  matter  of  natural  consequence  his  best  interests 
financially  and  socially  were  always  being  advanced. 

]\rr.  Denkmann  lived  to  see  his  early  hopes  and  desires  more 
than  realized.  Few  men  have  enjoyed  such  an  uninteri'upted 
career  of  prosperity,  all  of  which  was  not  the  gift  of  a  fickle 
fortune  but  the  natural  result  of  careful  planning  and  hard  labor. 
At  the  age  of  eighty-two  he  laid  down  the  responsibilities  and 
pleasures  of  a  long  business  life.  The  cares  of  his  later  years  were 
lightened  by  his  sons,  Frederick  C.  and  Edward  P.  Denkmann, 
who  by  practical  experience  from  early  boyhood  had  been  schooled 
in  the  intricacies  of  the  lumber  business.  They  have  shown  great 
adaptability  to  their  work  and  give  promise  of  a  success  worthy 
of  their  distinguished  father.  The  oversight  and  management  of 
the  business  were  so  gradually  shifted  from  the  aging  father  to 
the  sons  that  the  change  was  scarcely  perceived. 

The  wife  and  mother,  IMrs.  Catherine  Denkmann,  who  survived 
her  husband  till  January  15,  1907,  was  to  him  always  his  greatest 
inspiration  to  effort,  and  much  of  his  success  was  due  to  her  influ- 
ence. He  sought  her  advice  and  found  her  judgment  sound  on  all 
business  matters.  She  on  her  part  kept  in  touch  with  her  husband's 
business.  Their  home  life  was  ideal.  Mr.  Denkmann,  after  busi- 
ness cares  were  over,  delighted  to  spend  his  leisure  houis  at  home 
with  his  family.  He  was  a  great  reader,  and  would  read  aloud  to 
his  family  throughout  the  happy  evenings  which  they  were  ])er- 
mitted  to  spend  together.  IMrs.  Denkmann  was  a  woman  of 
benevolent  impulses  and  it  was  a  source  of  great  satisfaction  botli 
to  her  and  to  her  husband  that  there  were  ample  means  at  hand 
with  which  to  gratify  their  l)enevolent  inclinations.  But  their 
benevolences  were  bestowed  quietly  so  that,  according  to  the  biblical 
rule,  the  right  hand  did  not  know  what  the  left  hand  was  doing. 


MRS.  CATIIEKIXE  DKXKMANN 


I!I()(;i;ai'iiical   sketch  21 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Denkinniin  were  the  parents  of  six  dniiiiliters  and 
five  sons,  one  daughter  and  tlirce  sons  having  died  in  early  child- 
hood. The  surviving  members  of  the  family  are  Marie  Antoinette, 
■wife  of  John  J.  Eeimers,  of  Fort  Wortli,  Texas;  Apollonia  Ade- 
laide, Avife  of  Thomas  B.  Davis,  of  Rock  Island;  Frederick  C. 
Denkmann,  of  Eock  Island;  Elsie  Augusta,  wife  of  William  II. 
Marshall,  of  Eock  Island;  (Catherine,  wife  of  Edward  S.  Went- 
worth,  of  New  York;  Edward  P.  Denkmann,  of  Eock  Island:  and 
>Susanne  C,  wife  of  John  H.  Hauberg,  who  reside  in  Eock  Island. 

Those  who  were  intimately  associated  with  Frederick  C.  A. 
Denkmann  and  Avho  knew  him  well,  tell  of  his  forceful  but  unob- 
tnisive  life,  his  active  interest  in  matters  of  which  lu;  said  but 
little.  He  was  modest  and  unassuming  and  believed  the  doctrine 
tluit  the  praise  of  others  is  better  than  self-praise.  He  understood 
the  secret  of  making  and  keeping  friends,  namely,  to  show  himself 
friendly  to  others.  His  life  was  Ijcautiful  in  its  simplicily  and  in 
its  transparent  honesty.  He  ke])t  his  own  counsel,  and  he  would 
neither  invite  nor  take  counsel  of  others.  He  was  a  man  of  ]iowei'- 
ful  personality  which  every  one  who  ciune  in  contact  with  him  was 
made  to  feel.  He  was  a  man  of  few  words;  with  him  (k'cds  spoke 
louder  than  words.  He  had  a  large  and  generous  heart,  and  his 
beneficence  was  often  experienced  by  those  who  never  knew  who 
had  befriended  them.  This  method  of  bestowing  his  benefactions 
upon  worthy  persons  was  not  a  mere  caprice  with  him,  he  preferred 
to  have  it  so,  it  was  the  natural  expression  of  his  inner  real  char- 
acter. He  was  a  good  neighbor,  an  exemplaiy  imblie-spiiited 
citizen,  who  quietly  bore  his  part  in  building  up  and  lieautifying 
his  city.  His  great  wealth  was  fairly  won  in  the  open  field  of 
l)usiness,  and  he  deserved  whnte\-ei'  rewards  it  brought. 

During  the  last  years  of  j\lr.  and  Mrs.  Denkmann  the  matter 
of  making  a  liberal  donation  to  some  worthy  cause  was  fre(|uently 
talked  over  in  the  family  and  definile  ])lans  wore  slowly  maturing. 
The  parents  realized  Hint,  though  jlieii-  ]i]'incely  fortune  had  been 
honestly  earned  by  hard  work  and  judicious  management,  they 
were  still  only  stewards,  and.  like  lionest  stewards,  they  were  re- 
quired to  give  an  accouid  of  their  stewardsliip.  It  was  not  in 
their  thought  to  hoard  their  wealth  nor  to  spend  it  for  selfish  ends. 


22  DEXKMAXX    MEMORIAL   LIBRARY 

With  this  idoa  tlie  othiT  iiiomljcrs  of  the  family  heartily  concurred. 
And  so  from  time  to  time  the  plan  of  devoting  a  part  of  the 
estate  to  henevolent  purposes  gradually  took  shape.  Among  the 
various  ohjects  deserving  financial  aid,  Augustana  College  and 
Theological  Seminary  especially  appealed  to  them.  Before  the 
death  of  Mrs.  Denkmann  and  with  her  hearty  approval  the  family 
luid  decided  to  bestow  their  beneficence  upon  this  institution.  So 
that  what  was  finally  agreed  upon  was  thus  a  carrying  out  of  the 
wishes  of  the  parents  at  the  same  time  that  it  is  a  monument  to 
their  memory  and  to  their  noble  generosity. 

And  now  as  a  grand  finale,  we  may  be  allowed  to  add,  how 
better  could  their  children  commemorate  the  virtues  of  their  illus- 
trious parents  and  perpetuate  the  blessings  of  their  lives  to  the 
generations  to  come  than  Ijy  the  munificent  gift  of  the  Denkmann 
]\remorial  Library  to  Augustana  College  and  Theological  Seminary, 
a  beautiful  and  appropriate  monument  forever  to  all  that  is  greatest 
and  noblest  and  best  in  human  lives ! 


Laying  of  the  Corner  Stone 

of  the 

Denkmann  Memorial  Library 


AUGUSTANA  COLLEGE  and 
THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY, 

ROCK  ISLAND    ::      ILLINOIS 


January  21,  1910,  2:30  P.  M. 


CORNER  STONE  LAYING 

PROGRAM 

1.  Procession Led  by  Augustana  Military  Band 

2.  Selection Augustana  Military  Band 

3.  Introductory  Address President  Gustav  Andreen 

4.  Sciptures  and  Invocation  ....  Rev.  W.  H.  Blancke,  D.  D. 

5.  Selection Wennerberg  Male  Chorus 

6.  Corner  Stone  Laying"  Ceremony 

.  .  .Rev.  L.  A.  Jolmston,  D.  D.,  Pres.  Board  of  Directors 

7.  Address Rev.  W.  S.  Marquis,  D.  D 

8.  Selection Wennerberg  Male  Chorus 

9.  Benediction 

10.      Postlude Augustana  Military  Band 

"Let  there  be  light." 


m^MM^^Mm^^M&i^M&^^M&^^M^^^MQ. 


INTRODUCTORY  ADDRESS:  "WHAT  MEAN 
THESE  STONES?" 

By  Presidext  Gustav  A.  Axdreex,  Pit.  D. 


In  the  book  of  Joshua  we  read  that  stones  were  to  be  lolaced  by 
the  river  Jordan,  which  should  be  a  memorial  unto  the  nation 
forever,  and  when  future  generations  should  ask,  "What  mean 
these  stones  ?"'  the  answer  would  tell  of  the  guidance  of  the  mighty 
hand  of  God,  so  that  all  hearts  might  be  filled  with  the  fear  of  the 
Lord. 

What  mean  these  stones  around  which  we  are  now  gathered? 
They  mean  that  a  new  civilization  is  springing  up  on  territory 
which  even  within  the  memory  of  men  yet  living  had  lain  fallow 
for  ages.  On  these  bluffs  less  than  a  century  ago  the  Indians  fol- 
lowed the  chase  and  their  canoes  skimmed  the  surface  of  the  father 
of  waters,  glistening  at  our  feet.  Our  forefathers  from  this  or 
yon  side  of  the  Atlantic  shores  heard  the  call  of  the  Avilderness  and 
hither  they  came  to  found  new  homes,  to  win  the  richest  valley  of 
the  globe  for  civilization,  and  to  take  part  in  building  up  the  mighty 
commonwealth  of  our  country.  Their  prosperity  is  made  manifest 
before  our  very  eyes  by  the  homes  they  have  built,  by  the  mighty 
monuments  they  have  raised  to  industry  as  well  as  to  the  spiritual 
and  ideal  promptings  of  religion  and  of  learning. 

These  stones  have  not  come  hither  of  themselves,  but  they  speak 
of  much  previous  labor  and  preparation.  Just  as  the  rocks  were 
slowly  formed  in  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  and  as  much  exertion 
has  been  required  to  exhume,  to  shape,  and  to  bring  them  hither, 
as  well  as  to  plan  the  structure  of  which  we  now  see  the  foundation. 


28  I  IK  .\  KM  A  NX     .MI'.MOKIAI.    I.IIJlIAIiV 

po  iinu'li  Inlior.  oTcat  exeitioii  and  nrdtMit  prayers  must  belong  to 
the  history  oi'  an  institution  before  a  development  of  this  kind  be- 
comes even  ])ossible.  Some  years  ago  one  of  the  donors  of  the 
building  expressed  to  me  a  pregnant  word  wliieli  with  its  impoi't 
has  bnrned  itself  deep  into  my  heart,  "If  you  and  your  people  and 
the  friends  of  Augustana  are  in  earnest  with  reference  to  the  ad- 
vancement of  the  institution,  a  library  building  will  come  to  yon."' 
On  this  day,  at  the  beginning  of  the  50th  year  of  our  history,  I  can 
testify  that  the  friends  of  Augustana  have  been  in  earnest  in  their 
efforts  for  its  upbuilding.  Few  and  poor  were  the  founders  half 
a  century  ago,  poor  in  everything  except  faith  and  hope  in  God 
and  the  future,  in  high  ideals,  in  willingness  to  sacrifice, — in  these 
respects  they  were  rich  indeed.  Their  work  has  attracted  the 
attention  and  commanded  the  respect  of  all  who  have  beheld  it. 
And  in  common  effort  for  strengthening  the  hands  of  Augustana 
at  its  semicentennial  jubilee,  the  children  of  the  old  pioneers  have 
shown  that  they,  too,  are  in  earnest,  filled  with  the  zeal  engendered 
by  the  fear  of  God  and  the  love  of  learning. 

These  stones  have  for  us  to-day  a  peculiar  and  touching  signifi- 
cance in  that  they  bear  testimony  now  and  ever  to  the  noble  lives 
of  parents,  to  whom  not  alone  the  children  yield  the  glad  tribute 
of  filial  love  and  reverence,  l)ut  whose  memory  is  warmly  cherished 
I)y  the  community,  they  with  signal  grace  and  success  helped  to 
upbuild,  and  whose  names  are  mentioned  to-day  by  grateful  hearts 
in  ten  thousand  homes  from  ocean  to  ocean.  These  stones  speak 
to  us  of  jMr.  and  Mrs.  F.  C.  A.  Denkmann,  whose  mortal  remains 
rest  in  yonder  Chippiannock;  yet  their  deeds  live  after  them 
as  a  continued  blessing  from  generation  to  generation.  The  for- 
bears of  Mr.  Denkmann  lived  in  Altmark's  ancient  capital,  the 
nucleus  around  which  grew  np  Brandenl)urg  and  Prussia,  and  a 
united  Germany.  Soon  300  years  ago  his  ancestors  stood  shoulder 
to  shoulder  with  the  men  from  the  noith,  reddening  the  water  of 
the  Elbe  with  their  heart's  blood  in  a  common  struggle  for  liberty 
and  for  the  right  to  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates  of  one's 
conscience.  Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  this  country,  Mr.  Denk- 
mann founded  his  home  in  Eoek  Island.  If  he  were  alive  to-day,  he, 
too,  would  celebrate  a  fiftieth  anniversary;  for  during  this  year  it 


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MAIN   ENTRANCE 


30  DENKMANN    MEMOUIAL   LIliliAUY 

will  bo  just  half  a  century  ago  since  ^Mr.  Dcnkiiiaiin  began  the 
great  work  with  which  we  associate  his  name.  He  made  the  very 
]\[ississippi  carry  trilnite  to  our  liome  town.  Well  did  he  plan  and 
build  in  the  work  that  was  his.  These  stones  testify  especially  to 
the  idealism  which  flamed  in  the  hearts  both  of  Mr.  and  ]\Irs. 
Denkmann,  leading  them  ever  to  deeds  of  generosit}^  and  kindli- 
ness. This  quality  of  heart  has  come  to  the  heirs  as  the  most 
precious  heritage.  This  heaven-born  idealism  gives  life  and  signifi- 
cance to  these  stones,  joining  them  together  to  rear  a  temple  to  the 
jMost  High  where  knowledge  of  him  and  his  creation  may  ever  be 
disseminated.  With  thanksgiving  do  we  to-day  lay  the  cornerstone 
of  this  bnilding  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  C.  A. 
Denkmann. 

Dnring  the  days  of  his  activity,  Mr.  Denkmann  w^as  a  near 
neighbor  of  our  institution;  exceeding  joy  and  ardent  gratitude 
fill  the  hearts  of  us  all  at  the  thought,  that  the  sons  and  daughters 
have  decided  to  join  the  50th  anniversary  of  the  great  life-work 
of  the  father  with  the  semicentennial  celebration  of  Augustana, 
and  have  forever  united  the  names  of  beloved  parents  to  our  home 
of  learning.    Unborn  generations  shall  arise  to  bless  their  memory. 

"What  mean  these  stones?''  There  is  one  more  answer  that 
comes  to  our  lips  from  holy  writ  itself:  these  stones  shall  teach 
us  to  know  the  hand  of  the  Lord  that  it  is  mighty,  that  we  may 
fear  the  Lord  God  forever.  We  thank  God  for  his  guidance  in 
the  past,  for  the  blessings  which  through  Christ  are  bestowed  upon 
us  now,  and  pray  that  his  Spirit  may  al)idc  with  us  from  generation 
to  generation. 


1^ 


ADDRESS:  THE  MISSION  OF  A  LIBRARY 

By  Rev.  W.  S.  I\rAKQUis.  D.  I). 


We  are  here  to-day  to  lay  the  Corner  Stone  of  a  Liljrary.  Upon 
this  foundation  will  rise  a  noble  and  beautiful  structure  to  be  the 
home  of  the  books  which  this  growing  institution  will  gather  into 
it.  Here  will  come  to  dwell  the  mightiest  and  best  spirits  of  the 
past  and  present.  From  the  dust  heaps,  which  bury  the  glory  of 
ancient  Babylon,  from  the  royal  archives  of  Amenophis  IV  at  Tel 
el  Amarna,  from  the  jialaces  of  Persepolis  and  the  temples  of 
hundred  gated  Thcl)es,  will  come  priests  and  poets  and  potentates 
to  tell  us  the  story  of  the  long  ago  in  the  dawn  of  civilization. 

From  the  shadows  of  the  inimitable  Acropolis,  will  come  Solon 
and  Socrates,  Plato  and  Pericles,  Aristides  and  Aristotle,  with 
many  lesser  lights.  Eome  will  send  her  Virgil  and  Horace,  her 
Seneca  and  Cicero  and  versatile  Caesar,  to  weave  around  our  minds 
the  fascinations  of  the  Mistress  of  the  World. 

And  we  will  not  be  satisfied  with  all  these.  Germany  and 
France,  Sweden,  Denmark,  I^orway  and  Merrie  old  England  must 
scud  us  the  clioicest  spirits  they  have  produced : — their  Goethe  and 
Schiller,  their  Victor  Hugo  and  Montaigne,  their  Hans  Andersen, 
Bjornson,  Shakespeare,  Bacon,  Macaulay,  Tennyson : — and  we 
will  here  introduce  them  to  the  familiar  worthies  of  our  own  land. 
and  here  they  will  all  abide,  we  trust,  for  contui-ies,  and  live  their 
fruitful  lives  over  again  in  each  new  generation. 

This  Library  will  be  more,  therefore,  than  an  elegant  store- 
house for  dead  things  called  books.  It  will  be  a  home  for  the  im- 
mortal spirits  of  the  elect  of  all  ages,  where  you  and   1    may  meet 


32  DK.NK.MAX.X     MK.MOKIAI,    I.IKUAItV 

tln'iu  ;iii(l  Iidld  convor^c  with  tlu'iii.  it  will  be  a  seliool  with  tlio 
largest  and  ii()1)lest  of  faculties.  The  first  college  in  this  land 
was  founded  upon  the  library  donated  by  Kev.  John  Harv^ard,  and 
every  institution  of  higher  learning  since  has  been  gathered  about 
a  library. 

Books  are  not  dead  things,  tliey  are  the  product  of  life,  the 
record  of  life,  and  are  instinct  with  that  divinest  form  of  life 
whicli  we  call  thought.  When  you  open  a  book  there  is  a  resurrec- 
tion, and  the  soul  of  a  man,  perhaps  of  an  age  or  people,  looks 
out  and  s})caks  to  you.  "In  its  simplest  meaning,''  says  Bishop 
Brooks,  "A  book  is  a  life  standing  between  two  other  lives  and 
putting  them  into  association;  an  intellect  translating  a  truth 
which  lies  behind  it  into  character  or  pleasure,  or  action  in  the 
man  who  stands  before  it."  Every  nation  produces  its  noblest  lit- 
erature out  of  its  life.  Libraries  do  not  appear  until  men  have 
done  deeds  wtnthy  to  record.  Sargon  I  Avas  proud  of  the  achieve- 
ments of  liis  nation,  and  therefore  founded  his  great  library  in 
Babylon.  Darius  I  had  been  victorious  in  many  wars  l^efore  he 
chiseled  the  l)oastful  record  on  the  rocks  at  Behistun.  Homer  did 
not  sing  until  there  were  heroes  to  sing  about.  The  Clolden  Age 
of  Augustus  was  the  flower  of  the  rugged  life  which  won  for  Eome 
her  name  and  power,  and  the  valor  of  prince  and  peasant,  from 
King  Arthur  down,  luade  possible  the  brilliant  literature  of  the 
Elizabethan  period,  which  still  nourishes  the  intellect  and  imagina- 
tion of  the  English  speaking  race. 

Tlie  library  which  this  institution  is  gatiiering,  and  which  will 
be  housed  in  this  splendid  building  provided  l)y  the  munificence 
of  its  friends,  will  contain  the  Ijest  of  human  life  through  4,000 
years.  It  will  jiiake  this  whole  community  as  well  as  the  students 
in  this  college  ''the  heirs  of  all  the  ages."  "All  that  mankind  has 
done,  thought  or  been  will  lie  as  in  magic  preservation  in  the  pages 
of  these  books,"  Carlyle  said,  and  fortunate  are  they  who  have  the 
taste  and  take  the  time  to  enrich  mind  and  heart  with  the  treasure. 

President  Porter  of  Harvard  once  said  that  a  savage  visiting 
London  with  Livingstone,  could  appreciate  everything  but  her 
libraries.  'J'he  city  teeming  with  life  was  only  an  improved  and 
enlarged  African  village,  the  great  ships  at  the  docks  were  only  big 


MEMORIAL   JLAJ.L  .VXD  COIIK  I  Doi; 


AD.MIXISTI.'ATJUX    OFFlCK 


Augastana  Bulletin.  3. 


34  DENK.MAXX     .M  i:  M<  IIM  A  I,    I.IliliAKY 

eanocs,  tlio  palaco  of  Parliainoiit  had  its  counterpart  for  him  in 
the  coiiiic'il  hall  of  his  chief.  Even  the  great  cathedrals  and  their 
solemn  services  were  not  altoaether  strange,  for  he  too  was  a 
worshipper.  J)ut  the  lil)i'aiy  at  tlic  British  ^luseum,  with  its  rows 
npon  rows,  and  tier  ahove  tier  of  mysterious  things  called  books; 
the  students  poring  over  black  symbols  upon  the  white  pages  so 
(piietly.  and  with  such  intense  inteiest.  now  smiling,  now  frown- 
ing or  weeping, — what  could  it  mean?  He  had  never  seen  any- 
thing like  this  in  his  primitive  life. 

And  can  we  wonder  at  this  awe  in  the  breast  of  the  savage? 
What  intelligent  man  does  not  feel  the  same  awe  creeping  into  his 
heart  when  he  stands  in  that  great  British  Museum?  It  is  the 
consummate  flower  of  all  literatuie.  and  that  means  of  all  civiliza- 
tion. It  contains,  as  perhaps  no  other  institution  in  the  world, 
to-day,  the  best  of  all  that  remains  to  us  out  of  the  great  libraries 
of  the  past,  and  the  cream  of  human  thought  in  the  present.  There 
you  find  clay  cylinders  from  the  jjalace  of  Sargon,  the  winged 
bulls  from  the  temple  gates  of  Nineveh,  the  black  Obelisk  of  Shal- 
nianezer,  and  thousands  of  tablets  from  Babylon.  There  you  may 
look  upon  the  fragile  and  priceless  papyri  from  the  tombs  and 
temples  of  Egypt,  and  also  upon  the  Eosetta  Stone  by  which  their 
strange  hieroglyphics  Avere  deciphered  for  a  puzzled  and  waiting 
world.  If  it  was  true,  as  Xapoleon  said  to  his  soldiers  under  the 
shadow  of  the  great  Pyramid,  "Forty  Centuries  look  down  upon 
you,"  how  nuich  more  truly  may  one  who  stands  in  the  British 
]\Iuseum  say,  "Foity  centuries  welcome  you  to  their  fellowship 
and  instruction.  ETere  they  wait  to  teach  you  their  wisdom,  and 
warn  you  of  their  follies." 

And  the  thing  in  which  wo  may  rejoice  to-day  is,  that  by  the 
magic  of  the  printer's  art.  all  these  treasures  of  the  British  Muse- 
lun  may  become  ours  in  this  library  for  which  the  new  home  is 
being  provided.  This  artist  of  the  press  will  put  in  our  hands 
a  fac  simile  of  these  cylinders  and  tal)lets  with  history  translation 
and  commentary  so  that  Ave  can  drink  in  the  thought  of  those 
past  ages  just  as  though  their  great  men  rose  from  the  dead  to 
teach  us. 

The  A'allc}'  of  the  Tigris  and  the  ]']ii})hrates  and  the  Valley  of 


36  DKNK.MANX     M  KMOI!  I  A  I.    LIMUAKY 

tlio  SWv  \]vvv  ill  this  liKrai'v  oll'cr  io  Icacli  the  A'allev  of  the  Miss- 
issippi how  to  beeonie  rich  and  a'l'eal.  and  how  to  avoid  the  mistakes 
wliich  phmced  tliem  into  desolation. 

It  is  \\()nderrul  to  think  how  tliis  lihiaiy  will  stand  here,  as  we 
fondh'  believe,  centurv  after  century,  like  the  A'atican  and  the 
Louvre  and  the  Bodleian,  doing  its  work  of  instruction  and  inspira- 
tion, crystallizing  the  life  of  the  land  and  at  the  same  time  feeding 
it  with  fresh  thought.  Generations  will  come  and  go: — they  will 
each  draw  upon  this  fountain  of  learning,  and  yet  it  Avill  never 
be  diminished;  rather  it  will  grow,  for  it  will  cpiickcn  other  in- 
tellects and  they  will  return  to  it  the  product  of  their  own  thought. 
In  this  lil)rary  will  lie  latent  seeds  of  scientific  knowledge  which 
will  spring  to  life  in  some  man's  brain  and  produce  gi-eat  practi- 
cal inventions  to  bless  the  world.  Here  will  come  yonths  whose 
horizon  has  been  limited  to  the  village  or  the  farm,  and  when 
they  have  conversed  for  a  few  years  with  these  masters,  they  will 
go  forth  citizens  of  the  world,  and  men  of  trained  and  inspired 
intellect. 

Here  another  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe,  her  heart  burning  with 
sympath}'  for  the  oppressed,  may  learn  to  Avield  her  pen  and  pro- 
duce another  I^ncle  Tom's  Cabin  to  help  right  some  great  wrong 
in  modern  society.  Here  some  iinely  tuned  soul  will  take  lessons 
of  Scott,  or  of  Longfellow  and  learn  how  to  preserve  in  some  great 
novel  or  epic  the  life  of  the  aborigines  of  this  valley.  They  will 
gather  up  aiound  the  fascinating  figure  of  the  noble  Black  Hawk 
the  legends  and  songs,  the  folk-lore  and  all  the  pathetic  history 
of  the  Red  Man  in  his  struggle  with  the  White  Man,  and  future 
ages  will  linger  over  the  pages  as  they  now  do  over  '"The  Heart 
of  ]\Iidlothian,'"  and  "Hiawatha."' 

Of  one  thing  Ave  may  he  quite  sure,  this  library  will  drive  men 
to  action.  There  was  a  day  when  book-lovers  liuried  themselves 
in  monasteries.  They  simply  devoured  books  for  their  own  pleasure 
and  profit.  This  age  has  little  patience  with  such  a  '"Bookworm." 
It  demands  that  our  reading  and  thinking  shall  be  coined  into 
conduct.  The  youth  who  is  permitted  to  light  his  torch  from  the 
torch  of  a  Gladstone  or  a  l^incoln,  is  expected  to  give  his  country 
the  light  of  a  patriotism  as  pui-c   and  self-sacrificing  as  theirs. 


rilK     MISSIOX     OF    A    LIRRARY  37 

If  any  young  man  or  wmiiaii  ciiicis  this  libiary  and  coinniunos 
for  a  little  while  wilh  Andulion,  or  Agassiz,  or  liunouglis.  they 
will  be  led  afield  to  sec  whal  these  high  priests  of  nature  have 
seen  and  worshipped.  \\]\n  ran  read  Van  Dyke's  "Tliree  ]{ivers" 
and  not  want  to  wander  tliiough  the  wilds?  Much  of  tlio  literature 
of  our  day  is  "purpose"  literature.  It  is  written  to  set  men  into 
action.  Euskin  Avrote  not  simply  as  an  art  critic,  but  to  teach  the 
eternal  verities  embodied  in  form  and  propoition  and  color.  Ife  la- 
bored to  bring  the  inspiration  of  these  divine  truths  down  to  merce- 
nary Manchester  and  toiling  East  London.  Our  New  hhigland  au- 
thors— Bancroft,  Irving,  Whittier,  Longfellow^  Lowell,  and  llolines 
— wrote  not  simply  as  literary  artists,  but  as  the  sons  of  the  nation- 
l)uilders,  who  had  a  part  to  play  in  carrying  forward  the  work, 
and  their  influence  to-da}'  is  of  inestimable  woith  in  carrying  us 
liark  to  the  ideals  of  the  founders,  and  kindling  in  our  In'easts 
a  ])urpose  to  stand  for  them.  A  nation  can  never  ])crish  while  it 
pi'oduces  authors  capable  of  holding  up  her  ideals  in  the  inother 
tongue.  Give  us  a  neAV  galaxy  of  poets  and  historians  and  novelists 
to  catch  the  vision  of  the  best,  the  vision  of  the  ideals,  and  set  them 
as  stars  in  the  literature  of  our  countiy  to  guide  us.  Your  literati 
and  your  scholars  are  nation-lniilders,  reformers  and  dcfcndei'S  as 
M'ell  as  the  law-givers,  statesmen,  and  soldiers. 

This  library  will  be,  therefore,  not  simply  a  fountain  of  leai'u- 
ing,  but  of  life.  There  Avill  ncvci'  bo  a  more  important  and  influ- 
ential institution,  business  or  factory  in  tliese  Tri-Cities.  It  will 
be  a  producer  of  thought  and  of  tliiidving  ]iower: — that  which  lies 
behind  and  creates  your  steam  i)o\vcr.  and  electrical  jtower,  and 
your  ambitious  commerce  and  making  (if  things. 

And  Ave  rejoice  in  the  conviclion  thai  its  inlhieiicc  will  be 
pure  and  wholesome,  because  it  is  a  lihrary  dominated  by  the 
Book  of  Books, — the  Bible.  This  Book  is  a  lihiaiy  in  itself,  and 
it  has  produced  vast  libraries.  It  is  ]n-egnant  wi(h  (he  most  potent 
influences  to  fashion  tlie  thoughi  and  chaiaciei'  and  conduct  of 
men.  It  is  at  once  the  hook  of  history,  the  hook  of  law.  and  ihe 
book  of  influence.  It  appeals  to  facts,  and  to  authority,  ami  to  the 
love  and  fear  and  hope  of  our  hearts;  and  best  of  all,  it  gathers 
all  of  these  agencies  up  in  one  i-egal  character — Jesus  Christ. 


38  DENKMANN    MEMORIAI,   LTHRARY 

Tilt'  ])ili]r  is  a  purpose  Book: — It  aims  to  mould  uieu  iuto  tlie 
likeness  of  Clii'ist  and  lifts  tlicm  up  into  followslii|)  willi  the  eternal 
Father. 

This  Jiation  wns  founded  l)y  those  who  sought  for  Bil)le-inspired 
lihertv.  ]t  has  heen  developed  hy  Bible-taught  leaders,  and  its 
eulture  has  been  sanctified  by  Bible-loving  scholars.  We  are  now 
confrcuited  with  the  question,  How  can  we  continue  to  be  a  Bible- 
guided  nation?  Many  answers  may  be  returned,  but  among  them 
all  none  is  more  important  than  this : — 

"Maintain  the  Christian  College,  and  the  Christian  Library  as 
the  fountain  of  Christian  life  and  literature.  Give  us,  from  these 
institutions,  trained  Christian  leaders  for  commerce,  legislation, 
education,  and  religion.  If  Christianity  can  only  furnish  the 
leaders,  she  can  dominate  the  life  and  determine  the  destiny  of 
the  nation." 

Therefore,  we  thank  God  for  the  establishment  of  this  sturdy 
Christian  institution  in  the  midst  of  these  growing  cities.  We 
rejoice  in  the  munificent  gift  of  these  sons  and  daughters,  which 
builds  here  a  memorial  worthy  of  a  beloved,  father  and  mother, 
worthy  of  their  own  love  for  the  city  of  their  birth,  and  worthy 
of  the  cause  of  Christian  culture. 

It  was  the  piide  of  every  A^enitian  in  the  days  of  old  to  return 
from  voyages  and  battles  in  the  world,  with  a  precious  marble 
as  a  gift  to  adorn  some  public  building  in  his  beloved  city.  They 
have  long  since  finished  their  work  and  gone  to  their  reward,  but 
their. gifts  still  bless  the  city  with  beauty  and  preserve  their  names 
in  honor. 

So  may  the  noble  building  which  shall  rise  upon  this  Corner 
Stone  stand  through  centuries  to  adorn  our  city,  to  bless  the  youth 
of  this  whole  valley,  to  nourish  piety  and  patriotism,  to  kindle 
emulation  of  the  thrift,  the  industry  and  the  public-spirited  benev- 
olence which  reared  its  walls,  and  to  perpetuate  in  loving  memory 
the  names  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frederick  C.  A.  Denkmann,  and  their 
worthy  sons  and  daughters. 


Dedication  of  the  Denkmann 

Memorial  Library 
O 


Augustana   College  and  Theological 
Seminary 

ROCK  ISLAND,  ILLINOIS 

o 


Wednesday,  Mai;  31st,  1911 


PROGRAM  AND  ORDER  OF  SERVICE 
Wednesdaip,  May  31, 1911 


Di;.  S.  (J.  ^'orxGEitT.  Olficor  of  tlie  D;iv 

First  Session,  10  A.  M Dr.  C.  E.  Lindberg",  presiding 

Selections   {o\\  College  \x\\\\) Augustana  MilitaiT  l^and 

Organ  Voluntary Prof.  P.  Johnson 

Hymn,   No.    1  5  1 


Blessed  Jesus,  at  Thy  word 

We  are  gathered  all  to  hear  Thee; 
Let  our  hearts  and  souls  be  stirred 
Now   to   seek   and    love   and    fear 
Thee; 
By  Thy  teachings  sweet  and  holy 
Drawn    from    earth    to    love    Thee 
solely. 

All  our  knowledge,  sense,  and  sight 
Lie  in  deepest  darkness  shrouded. 

Till  Thy  Spirit  breaks  our  night 
With  the  beams  of  truth  unclou- 
ded. 


Thou  a'one  to  God  canst  win  us. 
Thou   must   work   all   good    within 

us. 

Glorious  Lord.  Thyself  impart  I 
Light    of    light,    from    God    pro- 
ceeding. 
Open  Thou  our  ears  and  heart. 
Help   us   by   Thy   Spirit's   plead- 
ing. 
Hear  the  cry  Thy  people  raises. 
Heir   and    bless   our   prayers   and 
praises. 


Reading  of  Scripture  and  Prayer Rev.  F.  O.  Hanson 

Song Octet 

Greetings  from  the  Institution.  .  .C.  L.  Hsbjorn,  Vice  President 

Greetings  from  the  City  of  Rock  Island 

Mayor  Marry  M.  Schriver 

Duet T^gci  and  "\'ngve  Jiu-anson 


42  DEXKMAXX    MEMOUIAI,   LIBRARY 

Address Rev.  Edward  T.  Horn,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Subject:     'I'he  Library  in  a  Cluirch  School. 
Announcements 
Hymn,  No.   104 

Come,   oh,  come.  Thou  quickening  Lead  me  to  green  pastures,  lead  me 
Spirit,  By  the  true  and  living  way, 
Thou  forever  art  divine;  Shield  me  from  each  strong  temp- 
Let  Thy  power  never  fail  me,  tation 

Always  fill  this  heart  of  mine;  That    might     draw     my     heart 

Thus   shall   grace,   and    truth,    and  astray; 

light  And  if  e'er  my  feet  should  turn. 

Dissipate  the  gloom  of  night.  For  each  error  let  me  mourn. 

Urant  my  mind  and  my  affections  Holy  Spirit,  strong  and  mighty. 

Wisdom,   coun'^el,  purity;  Thou  who  makest  all  things  new. 

That  I  may  be  ever  seeking  Make    Thy    work    within    me    per- 

Naught  but   that   which   pleases  feet, 

Thee.  Help  me  by  Thy  Word  so  true. 

Let    Thy    knowledge    spread    and  Arm  me  with  that  Sword  of  Thine, 

grow.  And   the  victory  shall   be   mine. 
Working  error's  overthrow. 

Benediction Rev.  F.  O.  Hanson 


Second  Session,  2:30  P.  M.     Dedicatory  Exercises 

PART  1.     At  Denkmann  Memorial  Library 

Dr.  N.  Forsander,  presiding 

Selections  (on  College  lawn) Augustana  Military  Band 

Procession 

Liturgy 

Hymn,  No.  120 

We'll  crowd  Thy  gates  with  thank-  Wide    as    the    world    is    Thy    com- 

ful  songs,  mand. 

High  as  the  heavens  our  voices  Vast  as   eternity  Thy  love; 

raise;  Firm   as   a   rock   Thy   truth   must 

And  earth,  with  her  ten  thousand  stand, 

tongues,  When  rolling  years  shall  cease  to 

Shall  fill  Thy  courts  with  sound-  move, 
ing  praise. 


44  DKNKMANN     MKMoKiAI,    I.II!i:Ai;Y 

The  Collect 

O  Lord,  Thou  art  the  source  of  lighl  and  knowledge,  Who  hast  blessed 
us  abundantly;  we  magnify  Thy  name  for  the  temple  of  learning  which 
is  to  be  dedicated  to  Thy  glory  and  for  the  advancement  of  education: 
direct  and  support  the  work  to  be  done  in  this  building  and  bless  us 
evermore;    Through  Jesus  Christ,   our   Lord.     Amen. 

Delivery  of  the  Keys  to  the  Donors.  .  .  N.  S.  Patton,  Architect 
Transfer  of  the  Building  and  Delivery  of  the  Keys  to  Augus- 

tana  College  and  Theological  Seminary.  ,  .  F.  C.  Denkmann 
Acceptance  of  the  Building 

.  .  .  .Dr.  L.  A.  Johnston,  President  of  the  Board  of  Directors 
Bible  Selections  to  be  read  by  clerical  members  of  the  Faculty. 

1.  "Praise  ye  the  Lord.  I  will  praise  the  Lord  with  my  whole  heart, 
in  the  assembly  of  the  upright,  and  in  the  congregation." 

2.  "The  works  of  the  Lord  are  great,  sought  out  of  all  of  them  that 
have  pleasure  therein." 

3.  "He  hath  made  his  wonderful  works  to  be  remembered.  The  Lord 
is  gracious  and  full  of  compassion." 

4.  "The  works  of  his  hands  are  verity  and  judgement;  all  his  com- 
mandments are  sure." 

-5.  "The  fear  of  the  Lord  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom;  a  good  under- 
standing have  all  they  that  do  his  commandments;  his  praise  endui'eth 
forever." 

6.  "Wisdom  hath  builded  her  home;  she  hath  hewn  out  her  seven 
pillars." 

7.  "And  there  are  also  many  other  things  which  Jesus  did,  the  which, 
if  they  should  be  written  every  one,  I  suppose  that  even  the  world 
could  not  contain  the  books  that  should  be  written." 

8.  "And  I  saw  in  the  right  hand  of  him  that  sat  on  the  throne  a  book 
written  within  and  on  the  backside,  sealed  with  seven  seals." 

9.  "And  the  voice  which  I  heard  from  heaven  spake  unto  me  again 
and  said.  Go  and  take  the  little  book  which  is  open  in  the  hand  of  the 
angel  which  standeth  upon  the  sea  and  upon  the  earth." 

The  Prepideiit  of  the  Synod  shall  then  say: 

May  the  Lord  grant  us  grace  faithfully  to  keep  his  words  in  our 
hearts. 


DEDICATION    im!()(;i;a:\i  45 

'J'lirii  llir  i'rc'siiU'nt  of  til!'  Sviiod  sliall  (k'llicate  llic  huililiiiL:'. 
saying : 

And  now,  by  vii'tue  of  the  aulliorily  vested  in  me  as  President  of  the 
Augustana  Synod,  I  do  set  apart  and  dedicate  this  library  building  in 
memory  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frederick  C.  A.  Denkmann  to  the  service  of 
Augustana  College  and  Theological  Seminary,  to  the  advancement  of 
learning,  and  to  the  honor  and  glory  of  God.  In  the  name  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost.     Amen. 

Selection Wennerberg-  Mule  Cliorus 

I'lic  President  of  tlie  Synod  shall  say: 

Let  us  now  in  united  prayer  invoke  the  divine  blessing  upon  this 
temple  of  learning. 

Praise  be  to  Thee,  omniscient  and  allwise  Lord,  the  God  of  the 
fathers  and  children:  Thou  who  hast  endowed  us  with  wisdom  from 
above  and  hast  provided  means,  facilities  and  storehouses  of  knowledge, 
by  which  we  may  penetrate  deeper  into  the  mysteries  of  nature  and 
revelation.  Do  Thou  let  Thy  presence  be  felt  by  all  who  seek  light 
from  the  wisdom  in  the  books  of  this  library  that  all  may  know  Thee 
as  Thou  hast  revealed  Thyself  in  all  departments  of  truth,  and  may 
we  by  Thy  Spirit  know  Thy  Son  as  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life, 
and  understand  that  eternal  life  is  to  know  Thee  and  Thy  son,  Jesus 
Christ. 

Bless,  O  Lord,  the  donors  of  this  building  and  all  who  in  the  future 
will  enrich  this  library  with  treasures  of  intellectual  wealth  and  the 
necessary  means  for  its  support.  And  now,  may  this  house  of  books 
be  consecrated  to  Thy  service  and  be  a  blessing  to  our  school,  to  the 
conmiunity  and  Thy  Church;   Through  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord.     Amen. 

Our  Father,  who  art  in  heaven;  Hallowed  be  Thy  Name;  Thy  king- 
dom come;  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven;  Give  us  this 
day  our  daily  bread;  And  forgive  us  our  trespasses,  as  we  forgive,  those 
who  trespass  against  us;  And  lead  us  not  into  temptation;  But  deliver 
us  from  evil;  For  Thine  is  the  kingdom,  and  the  power,  and  the  glory, 
forever.     Amen. 

Doxology 

Praise  God,   from  whom   all  blessings  flow; 
Praise  Him,  all  creatures  here  below; 
Praise  Him  above,  ye  heavenly  host; 
Praise  Father,  Son,  and   Holy  Ghost. 

benediction 

Return  Procession 


46 


DKXK.MAN.N     JIEMOKIAL    LIliKAKY 


Second  Session,  3;00  P.  M. 

PART  II.    In  Colleiie  Chapel.  Dr.  E.  F.  Bartholomew,  presiding 

Organ  Voluntary Prof.  P.  Johnson 

Hymn,  No.   191 

Jesus  shall  reign  where'er  the  sun  Blessings     abound      where'er      He 

Does  his  successive  journeys  run;  reigns; 

His    kingdom    stretch    from    shore  The    prisoner    leaps    to    lose    his 

to  shore  chains; 

Till  moons  shall  wax  and  wane  no  The  weary  find  eternal  rest, 

more.  And  all  the  sons  of  want  are  blest. 


For   Him   shall  endless   prayer   be     Let  every  creature  rise  and  bring 

made.  Peculiar  honors  to  our  King; 

And    endless    praises     crown     His      ,        ,     j  ,       -^i 

Angels   descend  with  songs  again, 
head; 

His     name,     like    sweet    perfume,     ^"^  ^^'''^'   ^^P"^^   "le  loud  Amen. 

shall  rise 

With  every  morning  sacrifice. 

Address 

.  .Prof.  W.  McM.  Smith,  Librarian  University  of  Wisconsin 
Subject:    The  Library  and  the  College. 

Song Wennerberg  Male  Chorus 

Address President  Gustav  Andreen 

Greetings   (8-minute  speeches)  : 

Prof.  P.  L.  Windsor — Librarian' University  of  Illinois 
Prof.  F.  M.  Austin,  Illinois  Wesleyan  University 
C.  G.  Wallenius,  Swedish  Historical  Society  of  America 
Dr.  C.  O.  Granere — Librarian  Aug.  Coll.  and  Theol.  Sem. 
Rev.  Theo.  Ekblad — Representing  the  Alumni  of  College 
and  Seminary 

Hymn,  No.  158 

Days  are  dawning,  days  are  flying!  Joy   thou   in   that  Holy   Word 

Hold  thou  fast  the  Word  of  God:  Which  of  old  on  earth  was  heard, 

"Lamp  unto  my  feet",  still  crying,  For  man's  peace  and  comfort  given, 

"Light  unto  my  dreary  road!"  Only  guide  from  earth  to  heaven. 


DEDICATION     PKOCiUAM  47 

Bless  us,  Father,  and  protect  us,     Let  Thy  (.ountenance  on  us  shine, 
Be  our  souls'   sure  hiding-place,  Fill  us  all  with  peace  divine. 

Let  Thy  wisdom  still  direct  us.       Praise  the  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit, 
Light    our    darkness    with    Thy  Praise  Him  all  that  life  inherit! 
grace! 

Benediction Dr.  M.  C.  Ranseen 

8 — 10,  P.  M. — Reception  in  Denkniann  Memorial  Library 
Torch  Light  Procession 


ei't 


GREETINGS  FROM  THE  INSTITUTION 


By  (\  L.  Esiijuux,  \'ich  ruESiDi-ixT. 


l.iidii's  and   (ic'iilk'iUL'n  : — 

1  ]ia\'e  l)oeii  iciiuestcd  hv  llu'  IMo^idi'iit  to  speak  a  h'w  words  of 
greeting  and  general  intrcxhiction  npon  this  oeeasion.  AVe  are 
assembled  here  to-day  to  eelelirate  an  event  unique  in  the  history 
of  our  institution,  and  prophetic,  as  we  believe,  of  great  and  glori- 
ous things  for  its  future.  This  day  sees  the  realization  of  a  long 
cherished  thought,  a  hope,  a  dream  by  generations  of  Augustana's 
sons  and  daughters,  a  realization  far  more  splendid,  indeed,  than 
these  our  seers  of  visions  and  dreamers  of  dreams  had  dared  to 
hope  for  or  believe  possible. 

Thei'e  stands  upon  our  campus  to-day  a  library  ball  such  as 
any  college  or  university  in  the  land  might  well  be  pi'oud  to  call 
its  own  —  a  palace  of  Ijooks,  for  the  Ijuilding  of  which  the  domains 
of  industry,  art,  and  science  have  been  laid  under  unsparing  con- 
tribution. We  of  Augustana  have  seen  it  gradually  rise  and  take 
sliape,  and  now  it  stands  liefore  us  completed,  a  thing  of  beauty, 
a  truly  royal  tieasure  house  of  knowledge,  a  jewel  casket  fit  to 
coiiiain  the  woibhs  most  precious  gems  —  the  record  of  the  good 
and  great  things  thought  and  said.  Yonder  in  viigin  purity  it 
stands  a  gleaming  temple  of  jMinerva,  a  jMusos'  shrine,  or  — 
shall  I  say? — -a  ])aiitheon.  not  of  the  gods  of  old,  but  of  the 
cboice  and  mnslei-  spirits  of  all  time.  And  to-day  the  kej'^s  of 
ibis  splendid  sliiiclurc  are  to  !)(_■  delixcrcd  over  to  Augustana 
College  and  Tbeoloiiical  Sviiiiiiar\-.     To-daN'  llie  Denkmann  Memo- 


Auiiustana  Bulletin. 


50  l)i:.\K.MAX.\     MKMOIilAL    I.IMKARV 

1-i.il  l.ihj'aiy,  tlic  gift  of  tlie  Denkmaiiii  fnniily,  becomes  ours. 
Tiuly,  a  nohJe  gift  —  iiol)lo  in  tlie  pentiiuciit  wliicli  inspired  the 
givers,  noI)le  in  its  own  ricli  ami  )ai('  hcaiity  oi'  foim,  and  color, 
and  materia],  no1)le  in  the  pnrpose  to  which  we  are  to-day  to 
dedicate  it.  Trnly,  a  greal,  gift — great  not  only  from  the  financier's 
and  the  architect's  point  of  view,  great  above  all  in  its  promise  and 
its  possibilities  as  a  center  of  influence,  as  an  agency  for  the  dissem- 
ination of  truth,  beauty,  and  goodness,  as  a  tool  in  the  hands  of 
Providence  for  the  service  of  man.  A  far-loohing  and  a  far- 
reaching  gift,  a  gift  not  to  us  and  to  our  day  alone,  a  gift  to  our 
children's  children,  to  ages  and  geneiations  still  sleeping  in  the 
womb  of  time. 

Is  it  any  wonder  that  Augustana  considers  this  a  proud  day  in 
her  history?  Is  it  any  wonder  that  she  has  invited  her  sons  and 
daughters,  her  friends  and  patrons  from  near  and  far,  from  our 
own  land  and  from  lands  beyond  the  sea,  to  gather  at  her  hearth- 
stone and  rejoice  with  her  on  this  her  day  of  gladness  ?  "Es  ist  so 
traurig,  sich  allein  zu  frcuen,"  says  a  good  old  writer.  'Tis  so. 
Joy  is  expansive.  Its  first  and  fundamental  law  is  that  of  radia- 
tion. To  be  complete,  it  must  be  shared,  must  be  communicated. 
So,  kind  friends,  we  have  invited  you  to  be  with  us  this  day,  that 
you  may  rejoice  with  us,  and  that  thus  also  our  joy  may  be  full. 
We  are  glad  and  grateful  that  you  are  here,  and  we  extend  to  you 
our  hands  in  a  clasp  of  hearty  welcome.  We  would  have  you  feel 
that  here  you  are  at  home,  that  Augustana  is  yours  to-day.  Of  the 
"feast  of  reason*'  which  the  Alma  Mater  has  prepared  for  your  en- 
tertainment, I  have  the  honor  to  bid  you  now  partake.  Again,  in 
Augustana's  name,  I  bid  you  welcome. 


GREETINGS   FROM   THE   CITY  OF  ROCK  ISLAND 


By  ^[ayok  IIakry  M.  ScnravER. 


It  is  eminently  iitting  that  \\g  meet  here  to-day  to  dedicate  this 
magnificent  building,  known  as  the  Denkmann  Memorial  Library. 

We  who  reside  in  this  community  think  Ave  live  in  one  of  the 
favored  spots  of  the  globe ;  we  are  proud  of  our  city ;  we  are  proud 
of  the  great  Father  of  Waters  that  sweeps  by  our  doors.  We  ai'e 
proud  of  our  manufacturing  industries  and  tlie  Eock  Island 
Arsenal,  one  of  the  greatest  in  the  world.  We  are  proud  of  our 
educational  institutions,  and  we  are  more  than  proud  of  the  one 
that  stands  head  and  shoulders  above  them  all  in  this  vicinity — 
Augustana  College;  and  we  are  also  proud  of  the  president  of  this 
institution  and  his  splendid  corps  of  efficient  instructors,  who  have 
done  so  much  to  put  this  college  in  the  front  rank  as  an  educational 
institution  and  the  addition  of  this  magnificent  gift  will  add 
impetus  to  the  rank  already  reached. 

While  this  Library  is  a  gift  to  this  College,  indirectly  it  is  a 
gift  to  Eock  Island,  because  anything  that  helps  this  College,  helps 
Eock  Island  and  vice  versa.  And  so  on  behalf  of  the  City  on  one 
hand  I  sincerely  thank  the  donors,  and  on  the  other,  I  sincerely 
congratulate  the  donees. 

This  day  crowns  a  work  of  great  inip(U'tance.  The  dedication 
of  this  beautiful  structure  for  the  spread  of  knowledge  marks  a  new 
era  in  the  history  of  this  institution,  and  may  this  gift  stand  as 
a  marble  monument  through  storm  and  sunshine  for  time  eternal, 
in  memory  of  the  generosity  of  the  members  of  the  Denkmann 
family.     May  it  be  the  means  of  spreading  knowledge  not  only  to 


52  DENKMANN     MK.MOHIAI,    I,I1!I!AUY 

ilic  sIikIl'hIs  ui'  tliis  collegf,  luit  to  tlie  people  of  this  eoiuinimity 
as  wcll^  and  at  the  same  time  put  old  Augustana  on  a  plane  she 
has  never  readied  hefore. 

And  now.  my  friends,  on  liehalf  of  the  City  of  Eock  Island, 
I  bid  you  welcome  to  the  best  city  in  the  State  of  Illinois.  I  am 
sorry  you  don't  all  live  here,  and  I  feel  sure  if  you  would  only 
visit  around  in  this  vicinity  for  a  couple  of  weeks,  the  majority  of 
you  would  make  up  your  minds  to  spend  the  balance  of  your 
natural  lives  in  Eock  Island. 

This  vicinity  contains  the  greatest  factories  for  the  manufac- 
turing of  agricultural  implements  in  the  world.  On  the  north, 
midway  between  this  city  and  Davenpoit,  we  have  the  Eock  Island 
Arsenal,  the  greatest  manufacturing  arsenal  in  the  United  States 
with  its  miles  of  beautiful  and  scenic  diiveways  and  sylvan  shade; 
historic,  on  account  of  its  being  a  rebel  prison  during  the  Civil  War. 
In  the  city  proper,  we  have  several  beautiful  parks,  and  on  the 
south,  we  have  a  summer  resort  called  Black  Hawk's  Watch  Tower, 
rich  in  Indian  lore  and  history  and  named  after  a  noted  Indian 
chief.  It  is  situated  on  a  very  high  hill  with  Eock  Eiver  in  view 
for  miles,  wending  its  way  at  your  very  feet,  while  the  beautiful 
verdure-covered  valley  is  in  view  as  far  as  the  eye  can  carry.  The 
scenery  cannot  be  surpassed  in  this  State  and  is  indeed  picturestpie 
and  beautiful. 

And  now,  my  friends,  again  I  bid  you  welcome. 


^? 


Oy^ 


P}^P  ^^P  ®^^  P]^S  S^P  P5^^  K^S  P]^^ 


ADDRESS:  THE  LIBRARY  IN  A  CHURCH  SCHOOL 

By  Rev.  Edward  T.  Horn,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 


It  is  with  sincere  pleasure  that  I  congratulate  you  upon  the 
great  institution  you  have  built  up  as  the  centre  of  the  Swedish 
Lutheran  Church  in  America.  This  assembly  and  the  concourse 
which  celebrated  the  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of  the  i\.ugustana  Synod 
show  what  this  school  and  its  sister-schools  have  accomplished;  and 
the  magnificent  building  we  are  about  to  dedicate  shows  that  the 
College  and  Seminary  have  but  begun  their  work,  and  gives  prom- 
ise of  the  future. 

I  am  the  more  ready  to  congratulate  you  as  a  representative 
of  another  bod}-  of  great  co-religionists,  who  came  to  America  long 
ago^  and  who,  though  perhaps  with  less  conscious  recognition  of 
the  sacredness  of  the  traditions  which  belonged  to  their  blood  and 
speech,  have  struggled  to  maintain  their  peculiar  character  and  to 
impress  it  upon  the  American  character  which  has  been  in  process 
of  formation.  With  all  American  pride  and  confidence  in  the  power 
of  education,  I  cannot  but  think  of  the  fact  that  this  is  the  work  of 
Swedish  men,  and  compare  it  sympathetically  with  the  work  and 
calling  of  the  Pennsylvania  Germans  of  whom  I  am  one.  You 
have  accomplished  in  fifty  years  what  it  has  taken  us  two  hundred 
to  effect.  It  is  true  that  our  forefathers  came  in  little  groups. 
They  were  for  the  most  part  poor  and  unlettered  men.  Many  of 
them  were  sold  into  temporary  bondage  to  repay  their  passage- 
money.  They  were  without  pastors  and  teachers,  without  organiza- 
tion, without  unity.  They  depended  on  the  patronage  of  kings 
of  an  alien  realm.     They  had  to  clear  the  forests  and  make  the 


56  DEXKMAXX    .MKMOIIIAL   LIBRARY 

fields,  wliilc  tlicv  fouplit  for  llie  lives  of  the  colonists  against  un- 
Inmod  Indians.  And  llicir  progress  was  hindered,  sometimes 
blocked,  hy  their  tongue,  a  mere  dialect,  without  a  literature 
and  forbid(h'ii  utterance  in  scliool  or  -worship.  But  in  these 
two  hundicd  yt'ars  their  hlood  lias  ])roved  stronger  than  that  of 
those  thev  lived  anmng.  They  have  preserved  their  identity  and 
their  peculiarity  and  now  their  language  is  dying  out  and  they  are 
merging  into  this  great  Ameiican  people,  which  owes  so  much  to 
other  elements  than  the  Anglo-Saxon,  though  it  claims  to  include 
them  all.  You  brought  your  pastors  along;  you  came  into  a  country 
with  larger  opportunities;  you  arrived  on  the  crest  of  a  great  immi- 
gration; and  you  had  leaders  who  united  with  a  deep  piety  towards 
the  faith  and  country  of  your  fathers  a  clear  insight,  a  wide  out- 
look, and  a  skilful  mastery  of  the  future.  So,  I  say,  in  a  half- 
century  you  have  arrived  at  the  stage  which  it  took  us  two  hundred 
years  to  attain. 

One  thing  has  marked  you  and  us  alike ;  we  never  have  been  con- 
tent to  cast  aside  that  which  Avas  our  own — our  inherited  character, 
— the  traditions  and  faith  of  our  fathers.  Our  whole  past  history, 
yours  and  ours  alike,  has  been  devoted  to  the  consolidation  of  our 
people,  to  the  recovery  of  our  own  treasures,  to  the  cultivation  of 
and  fidelity  to  that  which  makes  us  to  differ  from  other  people. 

The  stage  which  our  educational  work  has  reached  betokens  the 
conception  of  this  jareparation  and  our  emergence  into  the  national 
life  of  the  American  people  as  a  distinct  and  responsible  element. 
It  is  signalized  by  the  erection  and  dedication  of  this  great  library. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  at  our  own  principal  school  of  theology  we 
have  recently  dedicated  a  great  library,  which  already  has  begun 
to  revolutionize  our  method  of  training.  A  library  is  a  storehouse 
of  the  thought  of  all  times,  and  a  clearinghouse  for  the  thought  of 
our  own  time.  Before  this  our  method  was  the  use  of  approved 
textbooks.  We  dictated  to  our  students  a  system  of  belief.  In  the 
library  our  students  will  become  independent  investigators.  When 
we  add  these  libraries  to  our  schools,  and  make  them  central  in 
them,  we  put  our  thinkers  into  touch  with  the  entire  intellectual 
life  of  our  time,  and  we  bid  them  fearlessly  examine  it,  to  use  it, 
to  criticise  it,  to  resist  it,  to  direct,  to  control  it.     The  tone  of  the 


58  DENKilANN    iMKMOUIAl,    I.lliltAKV 

intellectual  life  (if  our  time  is  mil  in  liai'iiioin-  willi  the  ti'aditional 
character  of  our  people  or  our  Church.  The  intellectual  life  of  our 
time  is  very  like  that  of  the  Eenaissance,  from  which  the  Eeforma- 
tion  saved  tlie  pet)ples  of  Europe.  It  is  influenced  hy  heathen  phi- 
losophy and  what  is  called  the  scientific  spirit,  which  measures  and 
limits  eveiything  by  experiment.  It  aims  at  the  kingdom  of  Man 
over  against  the  Kingdom  of  God.  The  burden  of  modern  univer- 
sity teaching  and  modern  literature  is  Naturalism.  It  is  fearless 
in  inquiry,  and  no  reverence  hinders  it  from  uttering  its  whole 
thought. 

The  spirit  of  Lutherans  is  devoutly  conservative.  It  is  historical. 
It  reveres  that  which  has  come  down  to  us  from  the  past.  Our  be- 
liefs, usages,  ideals  are  more  precious  because  they  were  our  fathers' 
and  because  they  received  them  at  the  hand  of  their  fathers  from 
the  earliest  ages  of  the  Church.  Our  spirit  is  positive.  The  peculiar- 
ities of  our  church  life  were  developed  under  monarchical  govern- 
ment. Our  spirit  is  biblical.  But  happily  it  is  not  Judaic.  We 
hold  the  beliefs  and  piinciples  of  Christianity  as  they  were  recog- 
nized by  Teutonic  men.  In  an  essential  particular  we  differ  from 
that  conception  of  religion  which  has  had  so  great  a  part  in  shaping 
the  earlier  periods  of  American  history,  but  seems  to  have  yielded 
completely  to  the  tendencies  of  the  present  age;  and  it  is  a  great 
advantage  to  us,  as  we  come  into  the  arena,  that  Christianity,  the 
gospel,  never  has  been  conceived  by  Lutherans  as  Law. 

The  main  problems  we  shall  have  to  meet  are  exegetical  and 
practical, — the  estimation  and  interpretation  of  the  Word  of  God 
in  the  light  of  the  present  day;  and  the  application  of  the  Word  of 
God  to  new  pressing  needs  in  the  life  of  men.  We  are  compelled 
to  examine  our  system  of  belief  in  the  light  of  modern  discovery 
and  with  improved  methods  of  illustration  and  proof.  Our  Bible 
may  not  be  a  dictionary  of  prooftexts.  We  must  find  in  it  a  revela- 
tion. Beyond  the  formulas  and  definitions  by  which  our  old  mas- 
ters anatomized  the  truth  we  must  hear  and  bear  witness  to  the 
living  Christ  who  speaks  in  the  gospel,  that  we  may  make  men 
hear  that  voice  and  live. 

Lutheian  teachers  have  not  been  unfruitful  in  the  field  of 
Ethics.     But,  doubtless,  they  have  been  in  large  measure  conserva- 


THE   LIBRARY    IX    A   CIIURCTI    SCHOOL  59 

tive  apologists  for  the  social  arrangements  of  Germany.  We  have 
to  meet  not  only  those  processes  of  social  dissolution  which  are 
peculiar  to  a  new  country,  but  those  forces,  which,  under  the  im- 
pulse of  "the  new  learning,"  are  sweeping  over  the  whole  world. 
Old  forms  do  not  avail  to  hold  the  effervescence  of  the  new  spirit. 
Religion  is  decried  as  Hebraism.  Men  spread  out  their  arms  in 
the  air  of  a  new  freedom,  and  bask  in  the  indulgence  of  eye  and 
ear  and  sense.  Conscience  is  confused.  The  family  was  the 
unit  of  the  former  ethics;  but  the  family  seems  to  be  doomed. 
S'ocialism  is  proclaimed  as  the  new  gospel,  and  promises  an  earthly 
happiness,  and  claims  to  say  the  final  word  in  the  development  of 
society.     Are  we  able  to  stand  against  the  tide? 

Our  faith  is  more  than  a  theology.  It  has  been  described  as  the 
theologia  crucis.  Paul  preached  a  crucified  Christ;  and  so  have 
we  learned  him.  The  atonement,  more  than  the  incarnation,  has 
been  the  focus  of  our  religion;  the  Saviour  giving  himself  for  the 
sins  of  the  world  even  more  than  the  king  seated  at  the  right 
hand  of  God.  And  as  ours  is  the  theology  of  the  Cross,  may  we 
not  have  an  answer  to  all  the  questions  of  the  time  in  the  Ethics 
of  the  Cross,  the  mind  that  was  in  Christ  Jesus?  There  we  find 
the  sanction  of  Eighteousness,  the  supremacy  of  obedience,  the 
unity  of  man,  the  grace  of  God.  In  the  conflict  of  labor  and 
capital,  of  wealth  and  persons,  the  angry  debate  of  those  who 
clamour  for  an  equal  division,  for  an  average  of  happiness,  for  a 
general  level  of  condition  and  opportunity,  may  we  not  teach  how 
to  bear  one  another's  burdens  and  to  fulfil  the  Law  of  Christ  ? 

It  is  in  the  hope  that  our  faith  is  real  enough  and  deep  enough 
to  bear  the  strain,  with  a  sense  of  the  responsibility  that  is  upon 
us,  with  ardent  confidence  in  the  calling  of  the  American  people, 
and  with  entire  dependence  on  Christ  with  us,  that  I  congratulate 
you  that  you  and  we  have  taken  up  the  battle. 


DELIVERY  OF  THE  KEYS  TO  THE  DONORS 


On  delivering  tlie  keys  of  tlie  Imildino-  to  ]\Ir.  F.  C.  Denkmann, 
tlie  representative  of  the  Denkmann  ramily.  ^Er.  Normancl  S. 
Fatten^  on  behalf  of  the  firm  of  Fatton  and  Miller,  architects, 
said  : — 

1'lie  vital  part  of  a  college  education  is  the  personal  contact  of 
]in])il  witli  teacher.  This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  the  teacher 
is  to  thrust  his  personal  ideas  and  idiosyncrasies  ujion  his  pupils. 
It  means  that  a  teacher  must,  himself,  first  of  all,  Ije  a  scholar, 
and  acquaint  himself  with  the  best  thought  of  all  countries  and 
all  ages.  And  he  must  come  before  his  classes  only  after  he  has 
made  this  thought  his  own.  Augustana  College  will  accept  none 
but  scholarly  men  as  its  teachers. 

College  buildings,  in  the  matter  of  design,  should  be  considered 
as  being  silent  and  yet  expressive  teachers  of  art.  A  college  build- 
ing, and  especially  a  college  libi-ary,  is  no  place  for  an  architect  to 
intrude  his  personality  upon  the  institution,  unless,  like  the  teach- 
er, he  makes  his  own  expression  to  harmonize  with  the  best  art  of 
the  ages. 

If  yon  would  seek  for  the  origin  of  the  art  expressed  in  this 
building,  you  must  go  back  to  tlie  early  dawn  of  civilization,  in 
Greece,  when  Homer  was  singing  of  the  siege  of  Tro}^  You  must 
follow  the  evolution  of  Grecian  ait  down  through  the  centuries 
to  that  classic  age  of  Fericles,  when  the  gold  and  ivorj^  statue  of 
Pallas  Athenae  stood  npon  the  acropolis  of  Athens,  surrounded  by 
that  marvelous  group  of  buildings;  for  there  is  Greek  art  in  the 
building  we  are  dedicating.    Yet  the  building  is  not  Greek. 

Grecian  art  had  taken  root  in  the  soil  of  Eome,  when  Caesar 
was  conquering  Gaul,   Cicero   delivering  his  orations  and  Virgil 


UNDER  THE  DOME — WEST   CATALOGUE  CASE 


LIBKAUIAN  S  I^UBLIC   OEFICE 


62  DENKMANN    MKMOIUAL   LIHIJARY 

\\ritiiig  his  poems.  The  architecture  of  Eome  reached  a  marvelous 
development  under  the  reigns  of  tlie  Cffisars^  and  the  Denkmann 
Memorial  Lihiary  shows  the  influence  of  that  art.  Yet  it  is  not 
a  Eoman  huilding. 

During  the  middle  ages  there  was  evolved,  as  an  expression  of 
religious  art,  the  marvelous  Gothic  style.  But,  in  the  Fifteenth 
Century,  at  the  time  of  the  Eenaissance  of  classic  literature,  there 
was  also  a  revival  of  the  Eoman  architecture.  And  there  come  to 
our  minds  names  of  such  architects  as  Bramante,  who  laid  the 
foundation  of  St.  Peters  at  Eome,  and  Michael  Angelo,  a  great 
painter  and  a  great  sculptor,  as  well  as  a  great  architect,  who  com- 
pleted the  dome  of  the  same.  There  is  Italian  thought  in  this 
building;  and  yet  the  building  is  not  Italian. 

In  our  own  day,  the  French  nation  has  laid  the  world  under 
obligation  by  its  development  of  architecture,  especially  of  those 
forms  of  Greek  and  Eoman  origin.  There  is  French  thought  in  this 
building  to  such  an  extent  that  some  art  critics  might  tell  you  that 
it  is  designed  in  the  French  Eenaissance  style;  yet,  this  building 
is  not  French. 

All  of  ns  here  came  from  European  ancestry  and  yet  we  call 
ourselves,  not  Europeans,  but  Americans.  Various  styles  of 
European  architecture  have  been  transplanted  to  this  country,  and 
have  taken  root  on  American  soil.  And  we  have  as  much  right 
to  call  them  American  styles,  as  we  have  to  call  ourselves  Amer- 
icans. 

It  is  in  this  American  style  of  the  Twentieth  Century,  tracing 
its  lineage  back  through  France,  Italy  and  Greece,  that  this  build- 
ing has  been  planned.  It  is  not  meant  to  be  a  specimen  of  foreign 
or  ancient  art,  dug  up  out  of  a  dead  past.  But,  although  based 
upon  the  art  of  the  past,  it  is  meant  to  be  an  expression  of  the  art 
of  to-day,  suitable  to  be  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  the  man, 
whose  name  it  bears,  and  to  be  adapted  to  the  needs  of  Augustana 
College  of  to-day  and  the  years  to  come. 

It  is  a  long  trip  from  Athens  to  Augustana,  from  Eome  to 
Eock  Island,  and  it  is  Avith  a  sense  of  relief,  at  the  completion  of 
this  trip,  that  I  deliver  to  you,  Mr.  Denkmann,  the  keys  of  the 
completed  building. 


TRANSFER  OF  BUILDING   TO  AUGUSTANA  COL- 
LEGE AND  THEOLOGICAL  SEMINARY 

Mr.  F.  C.  Denkmann,  representing  the  Denkmann  family,  on 
tendering  the  keys  of  the  building  to  Dr.  L.  A.  Johnston,  President 
of  the  Board  of  Directors,  made  the  following  remarks : — 

Mr.  President  and  Members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  : 

On  this  happy  occasion,  marked  as  it  is  by  the  presence  of  so 
many  friends  of  Augustana,  it  becomes  my  pleasant  duty  to  ten- 
der to  you  the  keys  of  this  building,  erected  as  a  Memorial  to  their 
parents  by  the  children  of  the  late  Mr.  and  IMrs.  F.  C.  A.  Denk- 
mann. 

It  is  their  hope  that  its  beauty  and  usability  may  ever  be  an 
inspiration  to  present  and  future  generations  of  officers,  teachers 
and  students  of  Augustana  College  and  Seminary  to  loftier  ideals 
of  true  education  and  culture. 

They  also  have  the  hope  that  the  College  may  ever  grow  in  use- 
fulness and  greatness  until,  in  duo  course  of  time,  it  shall  have 
taken  its  place  in  the  first  rank  and  l)e  numbered  among  the  great 
schools  of  the  world,  and  thus  continue  to  reflect  credit  upon  that 
brave,  noble  and  honorable  people,  our  Swedish  American  friends, 
wdiom  the  College  so  fittingly  represents,  and  for  which  they  have 
made  so  many  sacrifices. 


'*^<0^ 


^B^^^^^ 

f^ 

■ii)^M 

AMONG   THE    STACKij 


ACCEPTANCE  OF  THE  BUILDING 

Eev.  L.  A.  Johnston,  D.  D.,  President  of  the  Board  of  Directors 
of  Augustana  College  and  Theological  Seminary,  on  accciiting  the 
keys  of  the  huilding,  said : — 

With  greatest  joy  I  accept  the  keys  to  this  huilding  on  hehalf 
of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  Angustana  College  and  Theological 
Seminary  at  Eock  Island,  and  at  the  same  time  I  do  express  onr 
hearty  thanks  to  yon,  the  generous  donors,  for  this  munificent  gift. 

On  the  28th  of  January,  1909,  it  was  officially  announced  at  the 
college,  that  the  heirs  of  the  late  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  C.  A.  Denkmann, 
Eock  Island,  111.,  had  promised  as  a  donation  to  Augustana  College 
and  Theological  Seminary  to  erect  upon  its  campus  a  lihrary  build- 
ing at  a  cost  of  not  less  than  $100,000,  to  be  known  as  the  Denk- 
mann ^Memorial  Library,  as  a  lasting  tribute  to  the  memory  of  their 
departed  parents,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  C.  A.  Denkmann.  The  announce- 
ment of  this  splendid  donation  caused  great  joy,  not  only  in  the 
Augustana  Synod,  but  all  through  the  Lutheran  Church  and  among 
the  friends  of  education  in  general. 

After  thoughtful  care,  minute  planning  and  constant  aiiplica- 
tion  on  the  part  of  the  donors,  the  architects,  the  builders  and 
their  craftsmen,  who  have  given  their  best  skill  and  experience, 
this  memorial  library  l)uilding  is  now  completed  at  a  cost  far  ex- 
ceeding $100,000. 

This  has  been  given  without  provision  or  limitation,  and  will 
now  be  administered  under  11  le  care  and  direction  of  this  institu- 
tion, in  memor}''  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  F.  C.  A.  Denkmann.  in  the  in- 
terest  of  true   education   and    for  the  glory  of  God.      And    what 

Augustana  Bulletin.  5. 


66  IIKNKMANX     .Mi:\I()i;iAI.    I.lint.VUY 

nobler  memorial  could  consecrated  wealth  have  than  this?  "What 
grander  investment  could  it  have  made? 

A  library  is  an  essential  adjunct  to  a  college  and  a  theological 
seminary.  It  throws  aljout  the  young  an  atmosphere,  which  in- 
vigorates the  intellectual  life.  And  with  the  ever  increasing  facil- 
ities it  offers  to  the  faculties  and  the  students,  it  will  quicken  and 
nourish  the  noblest  gifts  of  God  for  a  future  age.  In  this  place 
are  now  to  be  gathered  the  treasures  of  knowledge  upon  the  greatest 
themes. 

But  this  building  is  more  than  a  museum.  It  will  do  more 
than  simply  preserve  the  memory  of  the  past.  This  building  is  a 
tower  on  the  walls  of  Zion.  From  these  gates  shall  go  forth  able 
defenders  of  the  faith  and  faithful  laborers  in  the  vineyard  of  the 
Lord.  AYe  hope  that  in  the  years  to  come  this  liln-ary  may  become 
a  great  center  of  learning,  and  that  to  this  magnificent  library  will 
turn  the  future  scholars  of  the  church  and  state  for  material. 

To  us  has  been  committed  a  sacred  trust.  We  live  and  move 
and  have  our  being  in  the  midst  of  a  civilization  which  is  the  legiti- 
mate offspring  of  the  Christian  religion.  But  do  we  adequately 
realize  our  favored  situation?  The  blessings  resulting  from  our 
Christian  civilization  are  poured  out  so  regularly  and  so  abundantly 
on  the  intellectual,  moral,  and  social  world,  like  the  sunlight  and 
the  air  of  heaven  and  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  that  they  have  ceased 
to  excite  and  surprise  except  in  those  who  visit  lands  where  the  re- 
ligion of  Christ  is  little  known. 

Our  Christian  colleges  are  the  fountains  of  moral  and  spiritual 
power.  The  Christian  college  is  a  nursery  of  highminded,  high- 
principled,  well-taught,  well-trained  citizens  fitted  to  fill  grace- 
fullv  the  puldic  offices  or  enter  honorably  the  professional,  com- 
mercial, industrial,  and  agricultural  life.  What  better  service  can 
the  Church  render  the  republic  than  the  careful  nurture  of  those 
who  are  to  guide  its  destinies  and  lead  its  progress?  And  we  are 
glad  to  know  that  men  of  practical  devotion  and  large  benevolence 
are  coming  to  the  front  and  adding  to  the  resources  of  our  denom- 
inational schools,  and  providing  more  adequate  facilities  for  their 
work. 

This  day  is  a  dav  of  sfeat  rejoicing  and  gratitude.  We  have  a 


ONE  OF  THE  SEMINAR  ROOMS 


GKOLuciicAL  Ai.(()\i:  IX   :\irsi;r:\L 


68 


DEXKMANN    MEMORIAL   LIBKAUY 


inagiiiliceiit  liln'iU'v  Iniildiii^-  here,  far  nio]-o  than  equal  to  all  the 
requirements  of  the  present.  It  will  also  meet  all  the  needs  of  the 
future.  And  we  have  now  met  with,  joyful  hearts  on  this  lovely 
spot  and  accepted  this  building,  which  will  now  be  dedicated  for  the 
purpose  it  has  been  given  in  the  name  of  tlie  Triune  God,  by  whose 
favor  and  blessing  all  has  been  accomplished. 


^DENKMANN^ 

MEMORIAL  LIBRARY 


OFFICIAL  BOOK  PLATE 


W]^SW]^M^i^MW]^M^]^SlWi^SiW]^SW]^&< 


ADDRESS:  THE  LIBRARY  AND  THE  COLLEGE 

By  Walter  ]\r.  S:\riTir.  Librariax  University  of  Wisroxsix. 


Xo  event  in  the  history  of  a  college  can  be  more  significant  than 
the  dedication  of  a  beantiful  and  well-equipped  library  bnildiug — 
such  a  structure  as  Augustana  College  dedicates  to-day — and  it  is 
both  a  privilege  and  a  pleasure  to  bring  to  you  on  this  occasion  the 
hearty  congratulations  of  the  colleges  and  universities  of  the 
sister  state  of  Wisconsin.  That  this  fine  building  comes  to  you 
as  a  gift,  and  yet  not  as  a  gift  from  the  giver  universal  of  libraries, 
is  a  distinction  Avorthy  of  further  congratulation. 

There  is  no  one  other  gift  which  can  mean  so  much  to  a  college 
as  such  a  library  building,  as  in  the  library  all  college  interests 
unite.  It  concerns  all  departments  equally,  and  for  all,  from 
president  to  freshman,  it  should  ever  be  the  intellectual  center  of 
the  institution.  Fortunate  then  is  your  college  in  receiving  such 
a  noble  gift,  happv  those  whose  privilege  it  has  been  to  erect  such 
a  noble  memorial. 

When  a  college  lihraiy  bids  farewell  to  crowded  quarters  in  a 
recitation  hall  and  proudly  takes  possession  of  a  new  home,  it  en- 
ters on  a  new  era  of  usefulness  and  responsibility.  Hence  it  is  a 
time,  not  only  for  felicitation,  but  for  serious  thought  as  well.  One 
is  led  to  reflect  on  the  vital  relations  between  the  library  and  the 
college.  What  is  the  proper  position  and  function  of  the  library 
in  modern  education?  How  far  has  it  realized  its  possibilities  and 
what  does  it  promise  for  the  future?  These  are  not  merely  a 
librarian's  c[uestions.  They  are  of  interest  and  import  to  all  who 
are  interested  in  higher  education,  and  hence   I  feel  justified  in 


70  iii:m<ma\.\    .\ik\1(ii;iai,  i.ii!i:ai;v 

taking  tliein  as  a  point  of  (le[(aitin'o  i'oi'  my  sliare  in  the  exercises 
of  the  day. 

Statistics  have  made  ns  all  more  or  less  familiar  with  the  great 
growth  in  higher  cdncation  during  the  last  few  decades,  a  growth 
Avhich.  to  the  critical,  seems  sometimes  more  remarkable  on  the 
quantitative  than  on  the  cpalitative  side.  If,  however,  we  turn  our 
attention  to  only  one  feature  of  this  growth,  viz.,  the  college  library, 
and  view  its  advance  in  the  last  half  century,  there  is  great  reason 
for  satisfaction.  In  1860  the  college  libraries  of  the  country  were 
small  and  generally  of  inferior  character.  Only  Harvard  and  Yale 
then  had  libraries  of  over  fifty  thousand  volumes.  Colleges  of  such 
standing  as  Amherst,  Dartmouth,  and  Williams  possessed  book 
collections  of  less  than  ten  thousand  volumes  each.  The  smaller 
and  younger  institutions  of  the  south  and  middle  west  had  libraries 
ranging  all  the  way  from  a  few  hundred  to  three  or  four  thousand 
volumes.  Harvard  University  alone  probably  possesses  to-day  more 
volmnes  than  were  to  be  found  in  all  the  college  libraries  of 
America  fifty  years  ago.  Nor  were  the  college  libraries  of  those 
days  more  remarkable  for  character  than  for  size.  In  his  famous 
report  on  American  libraries  published  in  1851,  Dr.  Jewett  wrote, 
"Our  colleges  are  mostly  eleemosynary  institutions.  Their  libraries 
are  frequently  the  chance  aggregations  of  the  gifts  of  charity,  too 
many  of  them  discarded,  as  well-nigh  worthless,  from  the  shelves 
of  the  donors." 

Naturally  such  collections  were  not  well-housed  or  greatly  used. 
Any  attic  or  basement  on  the  campus  was  a  good  enough  place  for 
the  library,  and  it  was  sufficient  if  the  library  was  open  an  hour 
or  so  a  week,  at  the  convenience  of  some  overAVorked  professor  who 
added  to  the  duties  of  his  chair  those  of  college  librarian.  A  former 
neighbor  of  mine,  an  old  graduate  of  a  New  England  college,  used 
to  tell  how  the  library  of  his  college  would  freeze  up  in  the  winter 
months,  because  the  poor  college  could  not  afford  to  heat  the  library 
rooms.  One  feels  that  the  easy  familiarity  of  the  modern  college 
teacher  and  student  Avith  ample  book  collections  leads  occasionally 
to  a  contemptuous  carelessness  in  their  use.  That  was  less  likely 
to  happen  when  the  book-loving  student  was  shut  off  from  his 
treasures  until  they  were  unlocked  to  him  again  by  a  spring  thaw. 


DK.NK.MA.NN     M  i:  .\1()|;  I  AI.    LlliKAKV 


These  eoiulitions  meant  of  course  a  use  of  college  libraries  for 
circulation  ])nrposes  only.  The  large  use  for  general  reference 
and  in  connection  with  regular  college  courses  came  much  later 
■with  changed  methods  of  instruction.  But  even  circulation  in 
those  days  appears  to  have  been  very  meager  and  not  greatly 
encouraged.  The  story  still  lingers  at  Harvard  of  a  former 
librarian,  who,  crossing  the  college  yard  on  the  way  to  a  professor's 
house,  mentioned  gleefully  that  there  were  but  two  books  out  of 
the  library  and  he  was  just  stepping  across  to  get  those — a  story 
which,  however  apocryphal,  is  perhaps  typical  of  those  ancient  days. 
Books  were  made  to  be  preserved,  rather  than  to  be  used,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  ancient  librarian. 

How  greatly  all  these  conditions  have  changed  need  not  be 
■I  told  to  any  college  audience.  The  college  library  of  to-day  is 
generally  the  l)est  building  on  the  campus,  and  within  are  well- 
■  stocked  shelves  and  experienced  librarians.  The  librar\'  building 
is  the  first  to  open  in  the  morning  and  the  last  to  close  at  night. 
It  shares  its  holidays  with  the  student  body  and  is  often  oblivious 
of  any  distinction  between  term-time  and  vacations.  Its  motto  is 
"service"  and  it  freely  offers  its  hospitality  to  any  whom  it  can  help. 

But  all  these  changes  have  not  come  to  college  libraries  without 
preceding  causal  changes  in  the  colleges  themselves,  chiefly  the 
changes  in  college  courses  and  methods  of  instruction.  Wherever 
to-day  you  see  a  strong  and  developing  college  or  university,  there 
you  will  generally  see  a  growing  and  intelligently  administered 
library.  To  ask  the  modern  instructor  and  student  to  do  his  work 
without  an  ample  supply  of  books  is  to  ask  for  bricks'  without 
straws.  It  is  now  a  good  many  years  since  Carlyle  said,  "The  true 
university  of  these  days  is  a  collection  of  books."  Like  many  of 
the  other  aphorisms  of  the  sage  of  Chelsea,  this  is  perhaps  only 
a  half-truth,  but  we  may  at  least  say  that  any  true  university  is 
to-day  i)rovided  with  an  ample  Avorking  collection  of  books.  Give 
to  a  college  an  able  and  devoted  faculty,  Avell-equipped  laboratories 
and  a  sufficient  library,  and  that  college  Avill  have  a  successful 
career  even  if  it  be  housed  in  humble  l)uildings  and  does  not 
possess  a  winning  football  team. 

Undoubtedlv  college  lil)raries  have  been  helped  largely,  espe- 


THE    LIHUARY    AND   THE   COLLEGE  73 

cially  as  to  methods  and  spirit,  by  the  modern  lilirary  movement 
which  has  done  and  is  doing  so  much  for  the  entertainment,  general 
education,  and  inspiration  of  all  the  people,  but  in  any  given 
college  the  fundamental  improvement  in  library  conditions  has 
generally  come  from  an  urgent  demand  on  the  part  of  a  live  faculty 
and  the  securing  of  sufficient  means  to  carry  ideals  into  effect. 
Unfortunately  most  of  the  good  things  of  life  cost  money,  and  a 
good  live  college  librar}-  cannot  come  into  being  without  a  continu- 
ing stretun  of  money  for  books  and  the  cost  of  efficient  administra- 
tion. 

The  college  library,  however,  a  good  Avorking  library  for  a 
college  of  liberal  arts,  is  fortunately  quite  inexpensive  as  compared 
with  the  great  modern  university  or  general  reference  library, 
covering  in  a  comprehensive  way  the  whole  field  of  knowledge. 
The  college  professor  must  of  course  be  provided  with  a  moderate 
amount  of  material  for  his  advanced  work  in  addition  to  that 
needed  for  ordinary  undergraduate  instruction,  but  beyond  this, 
for  help  in  special  problems,  he  must  turn  to  the  larger  reference 
and  university  liliraries.  Happily  this  is  made  possible  by  the 
modern  system  of  iuterlibrary  loans.  The  M'orker  at  Augustana 
can  turn  for  help,  in  Illinois,  to  the  library  of  the  University  of 
niinois  and  the  great  libraries  at  Chicago,  and,  outside  the  state, 
to  practically  all  the  larger  puljlic,  reference,  and  university 
libraries  of  the  country.  We  at  Wisconsin,  who  are  obliged  to  turn 
so  often  to  eastern  libraries  for  help,  are  most  glad  when  in  turn 
our  growing  collections  can  be  of  service  to  serious  workers  in 
other  institutions. 

The  sight  of  the  pleasant  and  well-appointed  lil)rary  Iniikling 
which  is  dedicated  here  to-day,  makes  one  realize  anew  one  of  the 
great  advantages  possessed  by  the  college  library  as  compared  with 
the  larger  university  library.  You  can  safely  and  easily  give  all 
3'our  students  access  to  all  of  your  books.  In  sucli  an  institution 
as  the  one  with  which  I  am  connected,  with  o\er  live  thousand 
students  and  a  third  of  a  million  volumes  on  our  library  slielves. 
it  is  found  necessary  to  limit  such  privileges  to  a  small  fraction  of 
our  students.  When  I  remember  the  pleasure  I  had  in  browsing 
in  the  much  smaller  liln-ary  of  my  own.  college  days,  the  joy  of 


74  l)i:.\K.MA.\.\     MKMOIUAl.    LU5HAKY 

cliscoverhig  for  myself  some  book  wliieli  opened  new  vistas  of 
thonght  and  e.\])erienee,  I  sometimes  rebel  at  the  rules  whicli  it  is 
now  my  duty  to  enforce  and  di'eam  of  an  extension  to  onr  building 
in  which  oven  freslniien  may  have  free  access  to  a  collection  oL"  at 
least  fifty  thousand  volumes.  It  is  rather  curious  and  significant 
that  with  the  extension  of  the  open  shelf  in  practically  all  our 
public  libraries,  the  larger  university  libraries  have  found  it  neces- 
sary to  put  up  the  barriers.  Ts  our  selected  college  public  less  to  be 
trusted  than  the  general  public?  If  this  be  so,  it  is  a  sad  com- 
mentary on  education ! 

In  addition  to  the  freedom  which  can  be  accorded  to  all,  there 
is  in  the  college  library,  as  in  all  the  work  of  the  college  as  opposed 
to  the  larger  numbers  of  the  university,  the  possibility  of  closer 
personal  touch  and  the  resulting  more  effective  work.  In  spite 
of  all  efforts  to  counteract  it.  the  mere  pressure  of  numbers  in  our 
larger  institutions  tends  to  make  the  general  library  work  mechan- 
ical. Only  by  the  building  up  of  special  college  or  course  book 
collections,  with  special  assistants  for  the  work,  are  the  larger 
institutions  ahle  to  get  back  for  their  students  some  of  the  library 
advantages  which  have  been  lost  through  mere  size. 

I  have  spoken  already  of  the  depressing  condition  of  American 
libraries  of  a  half  centuiy  ago,  but  I  am  not  sure  but  that  the 
college  student  of  twenty  or  thirty  years  ago  was  a  better  read 
person  in  general  literature  and  more  of  a  genuine  book  lover 
than  the  average  undergraduate  of  to-day.  It  has  sometimes 
seemed  to  me  that  if  present  conditions  continue,  Ave  shall  be 
sending  into  the  world  each  commencement  a  body  of  very  illiterate 
young  men  and  women.  I  formerly  thought  that  this  was  an 
especial  failing  of  the  larger  institutions  of  the  west.  l)ut  the  more 
I  learn  of  conditions  of  student  life  in  eastern  colleges,  the  more 
I  am  convinced  that  the  symptoms  are  national  and  not  sectional. 
One  might  think  it  due  to  the  greater  distractions — athletic, 
dramatic,  social — in  the  larger  institutions.  A  professor  from 
one  of  the  smaller  New  England  colleges — one  which  I  supposed 
had  remained  a  reading  college — assured  me  a  few  days  ago  that 
the  conditions  we  deplore  at  Wisconsin  are  the  same  at  Bowdoin. 
He  said  that  at  the  smaller  college  the  student  body  felt  that  it 


ALUMNI   HALL 


76  i)i;xK:\rAxx  memorial  libuauy 

must  have  all  the  undergraduate  "stunts'^  of  the  large  university, 
with  the  result  that  the  average  student  had  as  many  or  even  more 
distractions.  Be  the  causes  what  they  may,  the  fact  remains  that 
too  many  of  our  students  never  use  the  college  library  except  when 
sent  by  an  instructor  to  do  a  definite  stint  of  assigned  reading. 

Changed  methods  of  instiiiction — collateral  reading  and  the 
preparation  of  topics — have  of  course  been  a  prime  factor  in  the 
development  and  increased  use  of  the  college  library.  But  like  so 
many  other  good  things,  this  has  not  always  proved  an  unmixed 
blessing.  There  sometimes  seems  to  l^e  a  mad  competition  between 
instructors  as  to  who  can  exact  the  largest  amount  of  assigned 
reading.  The  faithful  student  who  has  elected  many  such  courses, 
suffering  now  and  again  from  the  imposition  of  graduate  methods 
on  an  undergraduate  class,  spends  many  weary  hours  in  the  library 
in  a  frantic  yet  hopeless  effort  to  accomplish  a  respectable  fraction 
of  the  assigned  work.  What  wonder  that  such  courses  bring  on 
severe  attacks  of  acute  mental  indigestion  and  that  small  taste  is 
left  for  general  cultural  reading,  even  if  any  time  remained.  I 
once  expressed  the  situation  to  the  dean  of  our  college  of  letters 
and  science  in  these  words,  "Our  poor  students  have  so  much 
reading  to  do  that  they  have  no  time  for  reading." 

To  a  sceptic  it  may  seem  that  I  am  complaining  of  the  very 
thing  I  am  asking  for  our  college  students.  But  there  is  reading 
and  reading,  and  I  am  quite  confident  that  the  surfeit  of  assigned 
reading  through  which  a  student  begins  on  the  23rd  line  of  page  32 
and  continues  to  the  16th  line  of  page  37  of  Vol.  I  of  one  authority 
before  passing  on  madly  to  another  equally  fragmentary  reference 
is  not  the  sort  of  reading  that  with  ordinary  human  nature  leads 
to  a  love  of  books  and  reading  which  the  student  carries  away  with 
him  as  a  pleasure  and  a  solace  in  after  life.  One  trouble  is  that 
he  is  dealing  too  largely  ordinarily  with  the  literature  of  knowledge 
as  opposed  to  the  literature  of  power. 

Do  3'ou  remember  the  passage  in  De  Quincey's  essay  on  Pope 
in  which  he  discriminates  between  the  literature  of  knowledge  and 
the  literature  of  power?  "The  function  of  the  first  is,"  he  saj^s, 
"to  teach ;  the  function  of  the  second  is,  to  move :  the  first  is  a 
rudder,  the  second  an  oar  or  sail.     The  first  speaks  to  the  mere 


THE    LIBRARY   A^'U   THK   COLLEGE  77 

discursive  understanding; .  the  second  speaks  ultimately,  it  may 
happen,  to  the  higher  understanding  of  reason,  but  always  through 
affections  of  pleasure  and  sympathy."  He  illustrates  the  difference 
by  comparing  Milton's  masterpiece  with  the  latest  cook  book. 
"What  do  you  learn  from  Paradise  Lost?  Xothing  at  all.  What 
do  you  learn  from  a  cookery-book?  Something  new,  sometliing 
that  you  did  not  kudw  before,  in  every  paragTaph.  But  would  you 
therefore  put  the  wretched  cookery-book  on  a  higher  level  of  esti- 
mation than  the  divine  poem  ?  What  you  owe  to  Milton  is  not  any 
knowledge,  of  which  a  million  separate  items  are  still  but  a  million 
of  advancing  steps  on  the  same  earthly  level;  what  you  owe,  is 
power,  that  is,  exercise  and  expansion  to  your  own  latent  capacity 
of  sympathy  with  the  infinite,  where  every  pulse  and  each  separate 
influx  is  a  step  upwards — a  step  ascending  as  upon  a  Jacob's  ladder 
from  earth  to  mysterious  altitudes  above  the  earth.  All  the  steps 
of  knowledge,  from  first  to  last,  carry  you  further  on  the  same 
plane,  but  could  never  carry  you  one  foot  above  your  ancient  level 
of  earth;  whereas,  the  very  first  step  in  power  is  a  flight — is  an 
ascending  into  another  element  where  earth  is  fogotten."  And 
because  of  this  quality,  De  Quincey  would  award  the  palm  to  the 
literature  of  power  and  demand  for  it  from  us  the  higher  attention. 

Both  kinds  of  books  have  their  places  in  this  world,  but  the 
literature  of  knowledge,  under  modern  conditions,  needs  no  de- 
fender. What  we  all  need  to  take  away  with  us  from  our  college 
life  is  a  love  of  the  literature  of  power,  so  that  we  may  ever  find 
pleasure,  help,  and  inspiration  in  the  best  books,  both  of  the  past 
and  of  the  present.  It  is  so  easy  to  neglect  this  sort  of  reading 
and  to  fall  into  the  habit  of  finding  our  mental  pabulum  in  the 
last  issue  of  the  latest  success  in  popular  fifteen  cent  magazinedom. 

Please  do  not  infer  from  what  I  have  said  that  I  would  have 
the  college  student  over-serious,  spending  all  of  his  spare  moments 
in  the  reading  of  Dante,  or  Shakespeare,  or  Goethe.  Wo  cannot 
be  on  the  heights  all  the  time.  We  live  in  a  workaday  world  and 
it  is  our  business  as  well  to  be  in  touch  Avith  the  living  problems  of 
that  world.  ]\Iiich  of  the  good  we  take  fnnii  (•i»lK\go  with  us  comes 
from  healthy  intercourse  with  our  fellows,  and  the  friendships 
there  formed  are  among  the  precious  things  of  life.    But  I  do  feel 


IIK.N  KMA.N.N     M  K  MOlI  1 AI,    I.IMUARY 


that  the  student  who  leaves  college  walls  without  carrying  with 
liiiii  an  ahiding  love  of  good  books  and  reading  has  missed  one  of 
the  most  helpful  things  to  be  obtained  therein — and  we,  college 
teachers  and  college  librarians,  have  failed  in  our  duty  if  we  have 
lost  any  opportunities  to  inculcate  such  a  love  in  our  pupils  and 
friends.  Of  course  it  is  Ijest  when  this  taste  can  be  formed  before 
college  years,  in  the  home  and  the  elementary  and  secondary 
schools,  and  the  splendid  work  now  being  done  in  many  places  by 
co-operation  of  schools  and  public  libraries  ought  to  bear  fruit  in 
the  oncoming  generations. 

Education  is  nothing  if  not  experimental  in  this  land  of  ours. 
Society  is  never  saved,  but  let  us  have  faith  that  it  is  ever  being 
saved,  so  long  as  it  is  not  stagnant.  From  so  much  patient  study 
of  so  many  earnest  workers  in  the  whole  field  of  education,  im- 
provements must  sooner  or  later  result.  A  healthy  discontent  with 
methods  and  results  characterizes  our  best  colleges  to-day.  Perhaps 
our  students  suffer  from  too  much  prepared  and  predigested  food 
in  college  classroom  and  college  library.  Our  colleges  were  origi- 
nally in  pedagogical  method  an  evolution  of  the  New  England 
district  school.  Upon  this  was  superimposed  the  lecture  system  of 
the  German  university,  from  which  we  are  now  emerging.  Perhaps 
our  next  evolution  will  include  the  borrowing  of  the  best  features 
of  the  English  university  system,  and  there  may  result  a  more  self- 
reliant  undergraduate,  spending  proportionately  less  time  in  class 
rooms  and  more  in  laboratories,  working  up  for  himself  results  to 
be  tested  by  examinations.  If  this  should  come,  the  undergTaduate 
of  the  future  will  need  not  less  help,  but  assistance  of  a  different 
character  from  college  teachers  and  college  librarians.  Sufficient 
work  is  it  for  the  college  librarian  of  to-day  to  render  the  library 
of  the  highest  possible  service  to  all,  faculty,  students,  and  general 
public,  and  to  properly  care  for  and  l)uild  up  for  the  future  the 
book  collections  entrusted  to  him. 

In  all  the  various  ways  in  whicli  a  library  can  serve  a  college, 
the  Denkmann  Memorial  Library  will  prove  for  years  to  come  a 
great  blessing  to  Augustana  College.  Your  collection  of  books  will 
undoubtedly  grow  more  rapidly  in  the  future.  Let  us  hope  that 
some  other  benefactors  of  the  college  will  grasp  the  opportunity 


THE  LIBRARY  AXl)  THE  COLLEGE  79 

of  providing  an  adequate  endowment  for  the  library.  It  is  oui' 
American  -way.  A  suitable  library  building  is  first  provided  and 
then  the  books  come.  At  Wisconsin  our  university  library  has 
more  than  tripled  in  the  decade  since  we  moved  into  a  new  build- 
ing. It  is  a  pleasure  to  know  that  your  valuable  historical  collec- 
tions and  archives  will  iind  a  suitable  home  in  your  new  library 
building.  For  the  reference  use  of  your  faculty  and  students  and 
as  a  help  to  the  work  of  the  class  room,  this  library  will  be  an 
invaluable  adjunct  from  the  very  outset.  Yet  I  shall  consider  this 
its  most  valuable  service  to  your  college,  if  its  pleasant  halls  and 
well-stocked  shelves  shall  develop  in  generation  after  generation 
of  Augustana  students  a  deeper  love  for  good  books  and  the  higher 
pleasures  and  satisfactions  of  reading. 


--"^S^"2^"^ 


GREETINGS 
Words  of  greeting  were  spoken  bu  the  following  guests: 


BY  PEOFESSOK  P.  L.  WIXDS'OE, 

LIBRARIAN"  UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

Mr.  CJiairinan,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: — 

The  University  of  Illinois  has  a  double  interest  in  this  occasion ; 
a  personal  one,  for  yon  sent  one  of  your  own  young  men  to  our 
Library  School  to  fit  himself  for  work  in  this  new  library.  ]\Ir. 
Skarstedt  has  proved  to  be  one  of  the  best  in  his  class,  and  naturally 
we  will  follow  his  career  and  the  develo]nnent  of  this  library  with 
more  than  usual  attention.  Added  to  this  personal  interest  the 
University  is  glad  to  present  to  you,  a  sister  institution,  greetings 
and  congratulations  on  the  completion  of  this  notable  addition  to 
your  material  equipment.  It  is  no  new  thing  for  us  to  praise  the 
thorough  training  Augustana  College  gives  her  students,  and  we 
wish  you  continued  and  increased  growth  and  prosperity. 

Shall  we  not  believe  that  your  success  has  been  due  largely  to 
the  spiritual  in  ,vou?  To  your  zeal  and  faithfulness  in  following 
the  ideals  of  your  founders  and  the  vision  of  the  leaders  among 
you?  For  there  is  no  great  accomplishment  without  vision,  a  far- 
sighted  imagination  which  figures  for  the  inner  eye  an  end — beau- 
tiful, noble,  fitting,  vivid — an  end  toward  which  effort  shall  l)e 
turned.  Vision  belongs  not  only  to  prophets  and  to  those  we  call 
creative  artists,  but  to  leaders  of  every  sort :  Moses,  Paul,  Luther, 
Lincoln,  Edison,  Pasteur,  to  name  a  few  at  random.    History  is  the 


I'LAX    UF   J5A.SJl:\I1:XT    TLUUl 


Auguatana  Bulletin.  H. 


82  DEXKMAX.X    ilKMORIAL   I.IItlt.VKV 

record  of  vision  and  of  strivings.  Ho  who  formulates  a  course  and 
teaches  a  college  class  must,  if  he  be  a  true  teacher,  see  beyond  the 
callowness  of  youth  to  a  fair,  well  rounded  maturity ;  he  who  would 
develop  a  college  campus  must  see  and  provide  for  the  growth  and 
changes  of  many  years ;  he  who  plans  for  the  college  a  single  build- 
ing must  first  share  the  dreams  of  the  master  builder  of  the  institu- 
tion, must  not  only  see  the  Imilding  as  an  architectural  unit,  but 
must  see  it  in  ever  expanding  service  to  college  generation  after 
college  generation.  Some  seer  of  visions  like  this,  some  man  or 
group  of  men,  whether  president  or  faculty  or  generous  benefactor, 
or  loyal  alumnus  or  friend,  or  all  of  these  united  must  have  worked 
with  the  architect  of  this  building,  else  it  would  be  no  college  library 
worthy  your  name  and  fitting  into  your  vision  of  a  better  college, 
but  a  mere  building,  a  pleasing  pile  of  stone  and  steel  and  mortar. 

To-day,  then,  we  meet  to  celebrate  the  fulfilment  of  a  dream, 
the  materialization  of  a  vision.  Fulfilment?  No;  only  the  begin- 
ning: for  they  who  planned,  saw  the  lil)rary  in  daily,  ever  expand- 
ing use  and  this  can  now  begin. 

It  is  not  given  to  many  of  us  to  keep  our  vision  fresh  and  un- 
impaired through  the  heat  and  burden  of  the  day.  For  those  of  us 
who  work  with  libraries,  for  example,  the  endless  problems  of 
routine,  the  ever  recurrent  perplexities  of  finance,  of  bookselection 
and  of  daily  administration,  these  and  many  other  ever  present 
matters  of  petty  detail  often  induce  a  spiritual  myopia  which  blurs 
the  more  distant  but  larger  objects  and  sometimes  ends  in  all  but 
blindness  to  them.  An  occasion  like  this  is  good  medicine  for  such 
dimmed  eyes,  for  we  look  up  from  the  things  that  daily  press  upon 
us  and  are  forced  again  to  remember  that  the  greatest  thing  in  all 
our  work  is  our  vision. 

And  so  I  give  l)ack  to  you  the  message  you  have  given  me: 
\  Cling  to  your  own  large  vision  of  what  your  Library  shall  be.  It 
is  easy  to  forget,  as  I  have  said,  and  thus  to  lose  the  power  of  far 
sight.  Eemember  that  the  real  library  is  now  an  heritage  given  to 
3^ou  in  trust;  it  is  yours  to  cherish  the  vision  of  the  few,  to  teach 
others  that  they  too  may  see  it,  to  pass  it  on  to  new  college  genera- 
tions until  all — faculty,  students,  alumni  and  friends — have  the 
revelation  of  what  their  librarv  may  become,  what  it  iras  in  the 


CUEKTI.XGS  83 

vision  of  the  few;  until  all  see  this  beautiful,  dignified,  aui})le  libra- 
ry building,  already  convenient  and  fitted  to  its  uses,  filled  with  a 
growing  and  well  ordered  collection  of  books  so  administered  as  to 
satisf}^  the  needs  of  each  student  and  professor;  to  satisfy,  and  yet 
to  create  new  needs;  those  in  turn  to  be  satisfied  and  to  recreate. 
So  the  vision  grows,  flitting  ahead  just  beyond  the  reach  of  fulfil- 
ment. So  it  is  with  vision.  It  grows,  it  deepens,  it  widens,  or  else 
it  dies. 


GREETINGS  BY  PROFESSOE  F.  M.  AUSTIX, 

ILLIXOIS   AVESLEYAX   UNIVERSITY 

Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

It  afi'ords  me  great  pleasure  to  have  the  honor  of  bringing  to  you 
on  this  occasion  the  greetings  of  a  sister  institution.  The  Illinois 
Wesleyan  Universit}^,  located  at  Bloomington,  in  the  heart  of  the 
corn-belt  of  this  great  state. 

I  also  bring  congratulations  to  the  faculty  and  students  of 
Augustana  College  on  being  the  possessors  of  such  a  fine  library 
building.  And  I  extend  hearty  congratulations  to  the  donors,  that 
the  good  Lord  ever  gave  them  the  means  and  the  disposition  to 
erect  that  splendid  structure  as  a  memorial  to  their  honored  parents. 

A  noble  example  of  architecture  has  been  called  "frozen  music." 
That  building  yonder  is  music.  Already  it  has  sent  a  thrill  through 
my  very  being,  as  I  have  viewed  it  from  without,  and  studied  its 
exquisite  finish  within.  The  Denkmann  Memorial  Library  has 
struck  a  key-note, — a  high  note  for  Augustana  College,  with  which 
all  other  future  buildings  erected  here  will  be  made  to  accord.  Such 
buildings  tend  to  arouse  and  quicken  the  nobler  qualities  of  our 
natures. 

If  one  wei'e  to  ask  me  what  was  the  best  thing  my  college  life 
as  a  student  afforded  me,  I  would  not  say  that  it  was  the  knowledge 
of  Latin,  or  Greek,  or  mathematics,  or  philosophy,  or  the  natural 
sciences,  however  much  I  prized  that  knowledge,  small  though  it 
was;  but  I  would  say  that  it  was  "atmosphere" — the  atmosphere 


84  DK.NK.MA.NX    JIK5IOUIAL   LIBRARY 

crciitx'd  ])}'  i^'ofessors  of  lii.uli  moral  and  Christian  eliaracter ;  by 
students  of  manly  lives  and  scholarly  habits;  by  college  biiildinfis  of 
impressive  and  noble  architecture.  So  will  it  be  here.  That  build- 
ing has  ali'oady  changed  the  atmosphere  of  this  institution,  and 
teachers  and  students  now  and  in  future  years  will  come  under  the 
spell  of  its  uplifting  influence. 

I  have  a  vision  of  other  Iniildings  rising  on  these  slopes,  noble 
in  outline,  magnificent  in  proportions,  and  made  to  hanuonize  with 
this  library  building  whose  dedication  we  celebrate  this  afternoon. 

Who  can  estimate  the  good  which  such  a  gift  as  this,  when 
properly  endowed  and  made  the  receptacle  of  all  that  is  best  in 
books,  will  do  to  those  whose  privilege  it  is,  and  will  be,  to  enjoy  its 
bounties  ? 

All  praise  and  honor  to  the  donors,  and  renewed  congratulations 
to  faculty,  students  and  friends  of  Augustana  College  and  Theologi- 
cal S'eminary! 


GEEETIN'GS  BY  C.  G.  WALLENIUS, 

SV^EDISH  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  OF  AMERICA 

Ml'.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

I  am  under  great  obligation  to  the  Council  of  the  Swedish  His- 
torical Society  of  America  for  the  privilege  it  has  granted  me  to 
be  its  representative  at  this  important  occasion  and  to.  President 
Andreen  for  his  permission  to  bring  a  few  words  of  greeting. 

The  Swedish  Historical  Society  of  America  was  organized  six 
years  ago  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  and  preserving  for  future 
generations  a  library  of  books  and  manuscripts  relating  to  Swedish 
men  and  institutions  on  the  American  continent  and  a  museum 
containing  objects  of  interest  on  account  of  their  associations  with 
immigrants  of  Sweden  or  their  descendants.  In  this  brief  time  we 
have  already  collected  more  than  two  thousand  books  and  pamph- 
lets relating  to  Svedish  American  life  and  history,  and  on  the 
shelves  of  our  library  are  filed  from  week  to  week  the  greater  num- 
ber of  Swedish  American  newspapers  and  other  periodical  publica- 
tions that  are  being  published. 


PLAN  OF  FIRST  FLOOR 


DKXKMANX    MEMOIUAL   IJBRAKY 


An  organization  of  tliis  l<iii(l  must  natni'ally  stand  in  a  very 
friendly  relation  to  all  institutions  of  learning,  c-ulture  and  religion 
in  which  our  countrymen  are  interested  both  here  and  in  the  old 
fatherland.  We  therefore  look  with  feelings  of  justifiable  pride 
upon  the  rapid  growth  and  development  of  our  Swedish  American 
colleges,  academies  and  seminaries  during  the  last  fifty  years.  But 
to-day  we  bring  to  Augustana  College  and  Theological  Seminary 
our  most  heartfelt  felicitations  upon  this  new  step  in  its  develop- 
ment, this  magnificent  library,  which  will  stand  as  a  monument 
of  the  munificent  liberality  of  the  donors  and  an  ornament  to  the 
institution  that  has  been  deemed  worthy  of  receiving  it.  Augustana 
College  and  Theological  Seminary  is  the  mother  of  all  our  institu- 
tions of  learning,  and  it  is  perfectly  proper  that  she  should  have 
the  best  equipped  library  as  an  adjunct  in  doing  her  important 
work.  Therefore,  let  every  true  Swedish  American,  on  this  memor- 
able day,  arise  and  congratulate  her  upon  her  success,  and  let  us 
hope  that  her  growth  will  not  cease  until  she  has  attained  an  hon- 
orable place  among  the  greatest  schools  of  the  land. 

;Mr.  President,  let  me  assure  you  that  of  all  the  greetings  which 
have  come  to  you  this  day  none  is  more  sincere  or  well  meant  than 
the  one  I  have  the  honor  to  bring  you  from  the  Council  of  the 
Swedish  Historical  Society  of  America. 


REMINISCENCES 

By  Dr.    C.    0.    Granere,   Librarian  Augustana  College  and 
Theological  S'eminary. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

The  few  minutes  I  shall  have  the  honor  of  addressing  you  upon 
this  joyful  occasion,  I  shall  endeavor  to  recount  briefly  some  of  my 
reminiscences  relative  to  the  first  pul^lic  announcement  of  the 
Denkmann  donation  to  Augustana. 

The  day  on  Avhich  that  announcement  was  made,  namely,  the 
28th  dav  of  January,  1909,  a  day  indellibly  inscribed  in  the  annals 
of  this  institution,  was  what  we  generally  call  a  gloomy  and  dis- 
agreeable day.     For  a  drenching  rain  was  falling,  without  notice- 


GREETINGS  S7 

able  interruption,  all  day  ]on<i'.  making  us  feel  rather  uncomfortable, 
that  is  to  say,  before  the  announcement  of  the  donation.  This  out- 
ward disagi'eeableness  of  the  day  may  be  conceived  of  as  emblematic 
of  the  wretched  situation  and  unfortunate  condition  of  our  library 
affairs,  as  these  were  immediately  before  the  Denkmann  donation 
and  up  to  the  present  time,  causing  us  more  worry  and  uneasiness 
than  I  could  ever  begin  to  tell.  For  our  library  accommodations 
at  that  time  had  more  and  more  become  inadequate.  The  location 
of  the  library  did  not  afford  sufficient  facilities  for  good  order,  much 
less  the  necessary  space  for  a  reasonable  growth. 

Then  there  was  the  danger  of  fire,  a  danger  that  three  times 
already,  once  in  Paxton  and  twice  in  Eock  Island,  had  threatened 
our  library  with  destruction,  and  a  danger  so  much  more  annoying 
as  some  of  our  library  possessions,  if  destroyed,  could  by  no  amount 
either  of  effort  or  money  be  restored.  And  besides  this  danger  of 
fire  there  was  another  danger,  not  less  annoying,  namely,  the  possi- 
bility of  snapping  of  the  joists  of  the  library  floor.  For  this  floor, 
though  a  very  strong  one,  was  never  intended,  when  built,  to  l^ear 
up  the  tremendous  weight  of,  say,  30,000  volumes.  And  often, 
when  strong  winds  were  blowing,  I  had  felt  the  floor  vibrate  and 
heard  the  joists  creak  as  if  ready  to  snap  asunder. 

The  prospect  thus  repeatedly  held  out  to  us  was  to  have  the 
whole  library,  librarian,  reading  room,  visitors  and  all,  suddenly 
some  day,  with  an  aAvful  crash,  go  flying  three  stories  down,  crush- 
ing everybody  and  everything  in  the  way,  and  finally  landing  in 
the  furnace  room  to  be  devoured  by  greedy  flames,  or  scalded  by 
hot  steam.  Now  that  we  are  out  of  the  danger,  it  seems  amusing 
to  think  of  it. 

It  is  plainly  to  be  seen  then  that  our  most  crying  need  at  the 
time  was  a  new,  commodious  and  fire-proof  library  building.  But 
how  to  get  such  a  building,  that  was  the  troublesome  question. 
We  were  at  the  time  collecting,  to  be  sure,  quite  a  large  so-called 
jubilee  fund;  but  that  was  wholly  needed  for  other  purposes.  And 
to  ask  our  people  for  contributions  both  to  the  jubilee  fund  and 
for  a  new  library  building  we  could  hardly  do  at  the  same  time 
with  any  hope  of  success.  What  in  the  world  were  we  going  to  do 
then?    For  the  situation  was  such  that  we  had  to  do  or  die. 


88  ^  DKXKMAXN    MKMOKI A  I.    I.II'.KAltY 

Then,  in  these  ])erplexing'  circumstances,  the  Denkmann  dona- 
tion came.  —  not  as  a  clap  of  thnnder  from  a  clear  sky,  although 
entirel}'  unexpected,  no;  hut  as  a  very  pleasant  and  refreshing 
summer  shower  upon  the  dry  soil  of  the  earth,  penetrating  to  the 
roots  of  the  half  dead  plants,  reviving  them  and  causing  them  to 
grow  vigorously. 

Are  wc  not  right  then  in  regarding  the  Denkmann  donation  as 
a  great  providential  l)lessing?  And  was  it  to  he  wondered  at  that 
President  Andreen,  who  was  the  first  one  to  receive  information  of 
that  donation,  was  so  overjoyed  hy  the  glad  tidings,  that,  when  he 
came  to  tell  the  rest  of  us  about  it,  he  broke  down  and  was  unable 
for  some  time  to  control  his  emotions  ? 

Thus  we  come  then  to  a  few  particulars  as  to  how  the  first 
public  announcement  of  the  Denkmann  donation  was  made. 

In  the  morning  of  the  clay  of  the  announcement  President 
Andreen  had  gone  to  Chicago  there  to  continue  his  work  for  the 
jubilee  fund.  But  later  in  the  day  we  learned  that  he,  all  of  a 
sudden,  had  returned  home,  and,  not  knowing  why,  we  were  some- 
what puzzled  about  it.  The  reason  of  it  was  that  he  by  telegram 
had  been  invited  to  a  conference  with  the  Denkmann  heirs  here  at 
Rock  Island,  and  therefore  had  hastened  home.  And  that  he  did 
so  he,  surely,  is  not  likely  ever  to  regret.  For  it  was  at  that  con- 
ference he  first  received  information  of  the  intended  donation. 

About  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  the  day  of  the  announce- 
ment we  received  a  kind  of  hurried  and  mysterious  call  to  gether 
in  the  chapel  at  -i  o'clock  for  a  meeting  with  the  president.  Imme- 
diately thereupon  questions  began  to  make  their  rounds  about  the 
halls  and  class  rooms  and  everywhere  as  to  w^hat  was  up ;  what  had 
happened;  what  was  the  object  of  the  meeting,  and  so  forth.  Xo- 
body  knew.  But  some  one,  who  had  seen  the  president  hurriedly 
pass  by  and  enter  his  otfice,  ventured  to  remark,  "Whatever  is  up, 
it  can't  he  anything  very  pleasant,  the  way  the  president  looked 
when  I  saw  him  a  moment  ago."  "How  did  he  look  ?''  was  asked. 
"Oh,  kind  of  grouchy  and  grave,"  was  answered.  And  thus,  by 
one  thing  after  another,  now  impetus  was  given  to  our  constantly 
growing  curiosity.  Soon,  however,  the  bell  rang  4  o'clock,  and  we 
immediately  set  out  for  the  chapel.    While  we  were  assembling  the 


90  DEXKMAXX    MEMORIAL   LIBKAUY 

president  came  in,  entered  the  platform  and  sat  down.  ■"The  ■way 
he  looked,"  seemed  immediately  to  become  a  matter  of  general 
even  though  mute  inquiry;  for  at  once  the  eyes  of  all  were  search- 
ingly  upon  him.  And  something  was  evidently  the  matter;  there 
was  no  denying  it.  For  if  he  did  not  look  "grouchy"  exactly,  he 
certainly  looked  agitated  after  a  sort,  occasionally  trying  as  if  to 
swallow  something,  we  did  not  know  what  it  was.  The  president's 
appearance,  therefore,  was  not  calculated  to  allay,  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, to  rouse  our  curiosity  even  more  than  anything  else  that, 
so  far,  had  transpired. 

When  all  had  arrived,  he  requested  us  to  sing  some  stanzas  of  a 
hymn,  probably  because  he  wanted  more  time  to  compose  himself. 
After  the  singing  he  rose  slowly  and  began  some  preliminary 
remarks  which  seemed  to  us  too  tedious;  for  our  eagerness  to  learn 
what  really  was  the  matter  had  by  this  time  become  intense. 
Finally  he  came  to  it  and  said  that  he,  that  very  day,  had  met  the 
Denkmann  heirs  and  been  informed  that  they  had  resolved  to 
donate  to  Augustana  College  and  Theological  Seminary  a  new,  sub- 
stantial library  building  to  cost  at  least  $100,000,  and  maybe  more. 
Just  for  a  moment  we  sat  as  if  stunned,  but  the  next  moment 
there  was  an  outburst,  the  like  of  which,  as  far  as  I  know,  was 
never  before  witnessed  in  this  place.  We  cheered,  applauded, 
laughed  and  yelled  like  madmen.  But  we  were  not  mad :  we  were 
only  exceedingly  rejoiced  and  happy. 

Later  in  the  evening  a  crowd  of  our  best  singers  at  the  time 
among  the  students  donned  their  overcoats,  seized  their  umbrellas 
and  started  out  to  hunt  up  the  Denkmann  heirs  in  their  homes; 
for  they  wanted  to  sing  them  to  sleep  that  night,  and  by  means  of 
hearty  cheers  and  other  expressions  of  appreciation  predispose,  as 
it  were,  their  minds  to  sweet  repose,  pleasant  dreams  and  other 
enjoyable  feelings  from  on  high.  To  what  extent  our  enthusiastic 
singers  succeeded  in  accomplishing  their  good  intentions,  I  do  not 
know.  But  I  do  know  that  we,  the  happy  recipients  of  the  munifi- 
cent Denlvmann  donation,  have  ever  since  its  first  announcement 
slept  better  at  nights  and  dreamed  more  pleasant  dreams  both  night 
and  day  than  we  did  immediately  before.  And  this  happy  condi- 
tion of  affairs  still  continues. 


GREETINGS  91 

GEEETINGS-  BY  EEY.  A.  THEO.  EKBl.AD, 

PILGRIM  LUTHEEAN   CHURCH,  SUPERIOR,  WIS. 

The  50tli  anniversary  of  Augiistana  College  and  Theological 
Seminary  was  of  historical  moment  to  her  sons  and  daughters.  But, 
the  31st  of  May,  1911,  on  which  the  Denkmann  Memorial  Library 
has  been  set  aside  for  the  purposes  intended,  is  of  'equal  importance 
in  the  history  of  our  beloved  Alma  Mater.  The  magnificent  struc- 
ture, erected  by  the  Denkmann  heirs,  is  ready  for  occupancy.  Its 
splendid  appointments  will  serve  to  facilitate  the  efforts  of  those 
who  are  privileged  to  make  use  of  same. 

The  Denkmann  Memorial  Library  will  henceforth  be  the  study, 
the  inviting  work-room,  of  that  youth  which  from  time  to  time 
will  make  use  of  the  opportunities  offered  at  this  our  institution. 

It  may  be  true  that,  "the  springs  of  life  do  not  flow  from  the 
dust  of  libraries,"  but  it  is  equally  true  that  the  life  of  the  individ- 
ual is  made  more  worth  the  while  by  reason  of  his  or  her  having 
come  in  contact  with  the  life  stored  in  the  libraries.  What  are  the 
treasured  pages  in  the  books  worth  the  while  but  records  of  thought 
life  as  it  has  matured  in  the  school  of  life?  Books  are  not  dead 
things.  They  are  living  forces,  storage  batteries,  to  make  use  of  by 
the  living.  Carlyle  says,  "In  books  lies  the  soul  of  the  whole  past 
time.  All  that  mankind  has  done,  thought,  gained  or  been,  is  lying 
as  in  magic  preservation  in  the  pages  of  books." 

We  are  enabled  to  appreciate  and  understand  the  present  better 
if  we  are  brought  in  touch  with  the  thoughts  which  have  swayed 
the  world  in  the  past.  It  is  therefore  our  duty  to  enter  the  thought- 
world  of  the  past  and  of  the  present  with  fearlessness.  ISTo  realm  of 
thought  is  too  sacred  for  honest  and  thorough  research.  That  which 
in  the  past  was  tabooed  at  the  behest  of  ignorant  fear,  is  to-day 
fully  understood — thanks  to  the  untiring  efforts  of  inquiring  though 
oft  misjudged  souls. 

We  need  have  no  fear  in  making  full  use  of  our  thought  heritage. 
Our  one  sole  care  ought  to  be  to  conscientiously  cull  the  truth.  It 
is  our  duty  to  obseiwe  the  testimony  of  history  in  all  things,  but 
it  is  not  our  duty  to  be  merely  the  dust  catchers  of  antiquity.  In 
all  our  efforts  we  should  beware  of  the  tourist  route.     Seek  the  real 


92  IIK.NKMA.W     MK.MOIilAL    LIBUAUY 

and  the  true.  Be  it  at  the  expense  of  exacting  toil  and  cruel  heart- 
ache. Never  mind  the  cost  if  only  the  finalities  will  serve  to  lead 
all  on  toAvards  the  all  in  all  Truth. 

I  rejoice  to  know,  that  our  teachers  are  not  required  to  suljmit 
their  lectures  to  some  church  dignitary  for  their  approval  e're  they 
venture  to  deliver  them  in  our  classrooms.  I  rejoice  to  know  that 
our  young  men  and  young  women  are  never  Ijarred  from  reading 
the  best  available  in  their  chosen  lines. 

"We  stand  on  the  basis  of  truth,  the  most  plausible,  and  conse- 
quently we  have  no  fears  of  any  imagined  losses,  but  we  are  ever 
confident  of  positive  gains. 

Whate'er  the  field — that  which  cannot  stand  the  test  of  time 
is  always  reverently  laid  aside.  Science,  philosophy  or  theology 
serves  the  best  interests  of  man  when  clad  in  roljes  of  life. 

We  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Augustana  College  and  Theologi- 
cal Seminary — scattered  throughout  the  world — in  India,  in  China, 
in  Turkey,  in  Sweden,  in  Mexico,  in  South  America,  in  Canada,  in 
the  various  States  of  our  Union, — hail  this  day  as  the  greatest  day 
so  far,  in  the  annals  of  our  Alma  Mater. 

"We  rejoice  to-day  Avith  those  who  are  to  have  the  good  fortune  of 
enjoying  bettered  advantages  while  here  in  training  for  their  life's 
work. 

To  the  donors,  who  so  generously  have  come  to  our  aid  in  the 
upbuilding  of  our  Augustana,  we  cannot  but  pledge  our  earnest 
efforts  in  a  common  cause,  to  make  this  our  Denkmann  Memorial 
Library  a  repository  of  the  best  that  has  been  produced,  that  in  the 
future  may  be  produced  in  the  various  fields  of  human  thought. 

This  stored  thought-life  will  serve  to  mature  the  thought  lives 
of  mimbers  untold  and  thus  bring  a  wholesome  influence  to  bear 
on  the  generations  yet  to  come. 

We  the  sons  and  daughters  of  Augustana  thank  you  for  your 
kindness.  Our  posterity  will  bless  you.  The  Denkmann  Memorial 
Librarv  will,  for  as:es  to  come,  be  the  verv  heart  of  our  AiTo-nstana. 


HHHBBBHB 


TELEGRAMS  AND  LETTERS 

were  received   irom    the   lollowing   persons: 


President  William  H.  Taft,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Charles  S.  Deneen,  Governor  of  Illinois,  Springfield,  111. 

A.  0.  Eberhart,  Governor  of  Minnesota,  St.  Paul,  Minn. 

K.  H.  G.  von  Seheele,  Bishop  of  Visby,  Visby,  Sweden. 

E.  H.  Eodhe,  Bishop  of  Gothenburg,  Gothenburg,  Sweden. 

Axel  Kock,  President  University  of  Lund,  Lund,  Sweden. 

Iv.  F.  Soderwall,  Professor  University  of  Lund,  Lund,  Sweden. 

Bernhard  Lundstedt,  Librarian  Eoyal  Library,  Stockholm,  Sweden. 

L.  N".  B3^gden.  Chief  Librarian  University  of  Uppsala,  Uppsala, 
Sweden. 

Aksel  Anderson,  Librarian  L'niversity  of  Uppsala,  Uppsala,  Sweden. 

J.  Bergstedt,  Librarian  Eoyal  Society  of  Sciences,  Stockholm, 
Sweden. 

L.  Wahlin,  Librarian  University  of  Gothenburg,  Gothenburg, 
Sweden. 

Evald  Ljunggren,  Librarian  L'niversity  of  Lund,  Lund,  Sweden. 

Edmund  J.  James,  President  University  of  Illinois,  Urbana,  111. 

A.  W.  Harris,  President  Northwestern  University,  Evanston,  111. 

John  S.  Nollen,  President  Lake  Forest  College,  Lake  Forest,  111. 

Geo.  E.  MacLean,  President  State  University  of  Iowa,  Iowa  City, 
Iowa. 

E.  F.  Weidner,  President  Theological  Lutheran  Seminary,  May- 
wood,  111. 

E.  G.  Burritt,  President  Greenville  College,  Greenville,  Penna. 

A.  C.  Gray,  Acting  President  Eureka  College,  Eureka,  111. 

Ernest  Pihlblad,  President  Bethany  College,  Lindsborg,  Kans. 


DEXKMANN    MEMORIAL   LIBRARY  95 

Frank  Nelson,  President  Minnesota  College,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

David  H.  Bauslin,  Dean  Hamma  Divinity  School,  Springfield,  Ohio. 

S.  N.  Hagen,  Vanderbilt  University,  Nashville,  Tenn. 

Charles  H.  Graves,  Minister  to  Sweden,  Stockholm,  Sweden. 

Knut  William  Bagge,  Acting  Vice  Consul  of  Sweden,  Boston,  Mass. 

Count  Ehrenswiird,  Minister  Plenipotentiary  of  Sweden,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C. 

Eichard  Akerman,  Generaldirektor,  Stockholm,  Sweden. 

C.  A.  Smith,  Consul,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 

G.  N.  Swan,  Vice  Consul,  Sioux  City,  Iowa. 

C.  The.  Crona,  Director  of  Music,  Uddevalla,  Sweden. 

N.   G.   Dyberg,   Pastor,  Uddevalla,   Sweden. 

Per  Pehrsson,  Eector  Carl  Johan  Congregation,  Gothenburg, 
Sweden. 

Aug.  Weenaas,  Ness  Parsonage,  Eomerike,  Norway.  - 

Mrs.  Maria  Ekman,  Widow  of  Consul  Ekman,  Stockholm,  Sweden. 

S'elma  Lagerlof,  Falun,  Sweden. 

Ellen  Fitz  Pendleton,  Dean  Wellesley  College,  Wellesley,  Mass. 

H.  A.  Weld,  Eepresenting  Oberlin  College,  Ohio,  Eock  Island,  111. 

Count  Lage  Gdransson  Posse,  Portland,  .Oregon. 

Bishop  Marmaduke  Hare,  Trinity  Cathedral,  Davenport,  Iowa. 


COMMITTEES 


BOARD  OF  DIRECTORS 
Rev.  Dr.  E.  Norelius,  Rev.   Johan  Torell 

President  of  Synod,  ex  officio     Rev.   C.  P.   Edblom 


Rev.  Dr.  Gustav  A.  Andreen, 

President  of  the  Institution, 

ex  officio 
Rev.  Dr.  L.  A.  Johnston, 

President   of  the  Board 
Rev.    Dr.   J.   A.    Kvantz 
Rev.  Dr.  L.  G.  Abrahamson 
Rev.  Joseph  A.  Anderson, 

Secretary  of  the  Board 
Rev.  C.  J.  Sodergren. 


*Rev.  N.  P.  Sjostrom 
Dr.  A.  Theo.  Larson 
Dr.  C.  G.  Johnson 
Dr.  Andrew  Johnson 
Consul  G.  N.  Swan 
Consul    L.   L.    Malm 
Mr.  A.   G.  Anderson 
Mr.  John  A.  Benson 
Mr.  N.  A.  Nelson 


EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 
Rev.  Dr.  L.  A.  Johnston,  President     Mr.  A.  G.  Anderson,  Secretary 
Rev.  Dr.  G.  A.  Andreen,  ex  officio     Prof.  Andrew  Kempe, 
Rev.   Dr.    L.   G.    Abrahamson  Treasurer,  ex  officio 

*Rev.  N.  P.  Sjostrom 

LIBRARY  BUILDING  COMMITTEE 
Rev.   Dr.  L.  A.  Johnston  Prof.  C.  L.  Esbjorn 

Rev.  Dr.  G.  A.  Andreen  Rev.  A.  T.  Ekblad 

Rev.  Dr.  C.  E.  Lindberg  Rev.    Dr.   C.    O.    Granere 

Rev.  Dr.  N.  Forsander  Dr.  J.  A.  Udden 

COMMITTEE  ON  CORNER  STONE  LAYING 
President  G.  A.  Andreen  Dr.  S.  G.  Youngert 

Dr.   C.    E.   Lindberg  Dr.  E.  F.  Bartholomew,  Sec'y 

Dr  N.  Forsander  Prof.   A.   W.   Kjellstrand 

DEDICATION    COMMITTEE 


President  G.  A.  Andreen 
Dr.   L.  A.   Johnston, 

President  of  the   Board 
Dr.  C.  O.  Granere,  Librarian 
Dr.    N.   Forsander 
Dr.  C.  E.  Lindberg 


Dr.  S.  G.  Youngert 

Dr.  C.  W.  Foss 

Dr.   E.  F.  Bartholomew 

Dr.  J.  A.  Udden 

Prof.  C.  L.  Esbjorn,  Sec'y 


ARCHITECTS:    Patton    and  Miller,  Chicago.  111. 
BUILDERS:    Jobst  and   Sous,  Peoria,  111. 


Deceased. 


DEMCO 
PAMPHLET  BINDER    ' 
Tan    Pressboard       i 


UNIVERSrrVOFlLUNOIS-URBANA 


3  0112  061866981 


